It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
‘By thy long beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?
He holds him with his skinny hand,
‘There was a ship,’ quoth he.
‘Hold off ! unhand me, grey-beard loon!’
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
He cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
The southward aye we fled.
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!
At length did cross an Albatross,
Through the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God’s name.
‘God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—
Why look’st thou so ?’—With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
Mariner : sailor
Growled : roared
Albatross : a sea- bird
Hailed : acknowledged
