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The Rime of the Ancyent MarinereIV
I fear thee, ancyent Marinere!
"I fear thy skinny hand;
"And thou art long and lank and brown
"As is the ribb`d Sea-sand.
"I fear thee and thy glittering eye
"And thy skinny hand so brown--
Fear not, fear not, thou wedding guest!
This body dropt not down.
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!
And a million million slimy things
Liv`d on--and so did I.
I look`d upon the rotting Sea,
And drew my eyes away;
I look`d upon the eldritch deck
And there the dead men lay.
I look`d to Heaven, and try`d to pray;
But or ever a prayer had gusht,
A wicked whisper came and made
My heart as dry as dust.
I clos`d my lids and kept them close,
Till the balls like pulses beat;
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
Lay like a load on my weary eye,
And the dead were at my feet.
The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
Ne rot, ne reek did they;
The look with which they look`d on me,
Had never pass`d away.
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!
Seven days, seven nights I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.
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 bemock`d the sultry main
Like morning frosts yspread;
But where the ship`s huge shadow lay,
The charmed water burnt alway
A still and awful red.
Beyond the shadow of the ship
I watch`d the water-snakes:
They mov`d in tracks of shining white;
And when they rear`d, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.
Within the shadow of the ship
I watch`d their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black
They coil`d and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.
O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gusht from my heart,
And I bless`d them unaware!
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I bless`d them unaware.
The self-same moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
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