Jet-black and bare, save where with rust They were patched with purple and green. Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her skin was as white as leprosy, The naked hulk alongside came And the twain were playing dice; 'The game is done! I've won, I've won!' Quoth she, and whistled thrice. A gust of wind sterte up behind And whistled through his bones; Thro' the hole of his eyes and the hole of his mouth Half-whistles and half-groans. With never a whisper in the sea While clombe above the eastern bar One after one by the horned moon (Listen, O stranger! to me) Each turned his face with a ghastly pang And cursed me with his ee. Four times fifty living men, With never a sigh or groan, With heavy thump, a lifeless lump They dropped down one by one. Their souls did from their bodies fly, They fled to bliss or woe; And every soul it passed me by, Like the whiz of my cross-bow." PART IV. "I fear thee, ancient mariner! And thou art long and lank and brown I fear thee and thy glittering eye Alone, alone, all all alone, Alone on the wide wide sea; And Christ would take no pity on My soul in agony. The many men so beautiful, And they all dead did lie! I looked upon the rotting sea, I looked to Heaven, and tried to pray; A wicked whisper came and made I closed my lids and kept them close, For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky And the dead were at my feet. The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Nor rot nor reek did they ; The look with which they looked on me, An orphan's curse would drag to Hell A spirit from on high: But O! more horrible than that Is the curse in a dead man's eye! The moving moon went up the sky And no where did abide : Softly she was going up And a star or two beside Her beams bemocked the sultry main Beyond the shadow of the ship They moved in tracks of shining white; And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes. Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire. Blue, glossy green, and velvet black They coiled and swam; and every track Was a flash of golden fire. O happy living things! no tongue A spring of love gusht from my heart, Sure my kind saint took pity on me, The self-same moment I could pray; Like lead into the sea." PART V. "O sleep, it is a gentle thing Beloved from pole to pole! To Mary-queen the praise be given, She sent the gentle sleep from heaven That slid into my soul. The silly buckets on the deck That had so long remained, I dreamt that they were filled with dew, And when I awoke it rained. My lips were wet, my throat was cold, I moved and could not feel my limbs, I thought that I had died in sleep, And soon I heard a roaring wind, But with its sound it shook the sails The upper air burst into life, To and fro they were hurried about; The wan stars danced between. And the coming wind did roar more loud; And the rain poured down from one black cloud, The thick black cloud was cleft, and still The moon was at its side: Like waters shot from some high crag, The lightning fell with never a jag The loud wind never reached the ship, |