Around, around, flew each sweet sound,
Then darted to the Sun;
Slowly the sounds came back again,
Now mixed, now one by one.

Sometimes a-dropping from the sky
I heard the skylark sing ;
Sometimes all little birds that are,
How they seemed to fill the sea and air
With their sweet jargoning!

And now 'twas like all instruments,
Now like a lonely flute;
And now it is an angel's song,
That makes the heavens be mute.

It ceased; yet still the sails made no
A pleasant noise till noon,
A noise like of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,
That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune.

Till noon we quietly sailed on,
Yet never a breeze did breathe :
Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
Moved onward from beneath.

The lonesome Spirit from the south-pole carries on

Under the keel nine fathom deep,
From the land of mist and snow,
The spirit slid : and it was he

That made the ship to go.
The sails at noon left off their tune,
And the ship stood still also.

still re

quireth The Sun, right up above the mast, vengeance. Had fixed her to the ocean : But in a minute she’gan stir, With a short uneasy motionBackwards and forwards half her length With a short uneasy motion.

Then like a pawing horse let go,
She made a sudden bound :
It Aung the blood into my head,
And I fell down in a swound.

that pen

How long in that same fit I lay,

The Polar

Spirit's felI have not to declare;

low demons,

the invisible But ere my living life returned,

inhabitants

of the eleI heard, and in

my
soul discerned

ment, take Two voices in the air.

part in his wrong; and two of them

relate, one 'Is it he ?' quoth one, “Is this the m: n ? to the other, By him who died on cross,

ance long

and heavy With his cruel bow he laid full low for the an

cient MaThe harmless Albatross.

riner hath been accord

ed to the The spirit who bideth by himself

The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew :
Quoth he, The man hath penance

6

done,

And penance more will do.'

PART VI.

FIRST VOICE.

• But tell me, tell me! speak again, Thy soft response renewingWhat makes that ship drive on so

fast ? What is the ocean doing?'

SECOND VOICE.

• Still as a slave before his lord,
The ocean hath no blast';
His great bright eye most silently
Up to the Moon is cast-

If he may know which way to go ; For she guides him smooth or grim. See, brother, see! how graciously She looketh down on him.'

FIRST VOICE.

• But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind ?'

SECOND VOICE.

The Ma-
riner hath
been cast
into a
trance; for
the angelic
power
causeth
the vessel to
drive north-
ward faster
than human
life could
endure.

• The air is cut away before, And closes from behind.

Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high!
Or we shall be belated :
For slow and slow that ship will go,
When the Mariner's trance is abated.'

The supernatural motion is re

I woke, and we were sailing on
As in a gentle weather :

tarded; the 'Twas night, calm night, the moon was Mariner high;

awakes, and The dead men stood together.

begins

his penance

anew

All stood together on the deck,
For a charnel-dungeon fitter :
All fixed on me their stony eyes,
That in the Moon did glitter.

The pang, the curse, with which they

died,
Had never passed away:
I could not draw my eyes from theirs,
Nor turn them up to pray.

The curse And now this spell was snapt : once more
is finally
expiated. I viewed the ocean green,

And looked far forth, yet little saw
Of what had else been seen-

Like
one,

that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.

But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made :
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.

It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring-
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.

a

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too :
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze-
On me alone it blew.

Oh ! dream of joy! is this indeed And the an- The light-house top I see? · cient Ma