Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship, Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed Is this the hill? is this the kirk? We drifted o'er the harbour-bar, The harbour-bay was clear as glass, And on the bay the moonlight lay, The rock shone bright, the kirk no less, The moonlight steeped in silentness And the bay was white with silent light Full many shapes, that shadows were, A little distance from the prow Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat. A man all light, a seraph-man, And the an cient Mariner beholdeth his native country The Angelic spirits leave the dead bodies, And appear This seraph-band, each waved his hand: They stood as signals to the land, This seraph-band, each waved his hand, No voice did they impart No voice; but oh! the silence sank Like music on my heart. But soon I heard the dash of oars, I heard the Pilot's cheer; My head was turned perforce away, The Pilot and the Pilot's boy, Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy The dead men could not blast. I saw a third-I heard his voice: It is the Hermit good! He singeth loud his godly hymns. That he makes in the wood. He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away The Hermit of the Wood PART VII This Hermit good lives in that wood That come from a far countree. He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve→ He hath a cushion plump: It is the moss that wholly hides The rotted old oak-stump. The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk, 66 Why, this is strange, I trow! Where are those lights so many and fair, 66 Strange, by my faith!" the Hermit said"And they answered not our cheer! The planks looked warped! and see those sails, How thin they are and sere! I never saw aught like to them, Unless perchance it were 66 Brown skeletons of leaves that lag My forest-brook along; When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow, And the owlet whoops to the wolf below, "Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look (The Pilot made reply) 66 I am a-feared”. Push on, push on!" The boat came closer to the ship, The boat came close beneath the ship, And straight a sound was heard. Under the water it rumbled on, Still louder and more dread: It reached the ship, it split the bay; Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound, Like one that hath been seven days drowned My body lay afloat; But swift as dreams, myself I found Approacheth the ship with wonder The ship suddenly sinketh The ancient The ancient Mariner earnestly entreateth the Hermit to shrieve him; and the penance of life falls on him And ever and anon through out his future life an agony constraineth Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, I moved my lips-the Pilot shrieked The holy Hermit raised his eyes, I took the oars: the Pilot's boy, Who now doth crazy go, Laughed loud and long, and all the while 66 Ha! ha!" quoth he, "full plain I see, The Devil knows how to row." And now, all in my own countree, I stood on the firm land! The Hermit stepped forth from the boat, O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!" Say quick," quoth he, "I bid thee sayWhat manner of man art thou?" Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched Which forced me to begin my tale; And then it left me free. Since then, at an uncertain hour, And till my ghastly tale is told, I pass, like night, from land to land; That moment that his face I see, I know the man that must hear me: What loud uproar bursts from that door! The wedding-guests are there: But in the garden-bower the bride O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been So lonely 'twas, that God himself O sweeter than the marriage-feast, To waik together to the kirk, And all together pray, While each to his great Father bends, Old men, and babes, and loving friends Farewell, farewell! but this I tell He prayeth best, who loveth best The Mariner, whose eye is bright, Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest And to teach, |