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It ceased; yet still the sails made on

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.

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.

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

The lonesome spirit from the south-pole carries on the ship as far as the line, in obedience to the angelic troop, but still requireth vengeance.

1

The Polar

Spirit's fel

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

How long in that same fit I lay,

low dæmons, I have not to declare;

the invisible

inhabitants of But ere my living life returned,

the element,

take part in

his wrong;

and two of

them relate,

one to the

other, that

penance long

and heavy for

the ancient

I heard and in my soul discerned

TWO VOICES in the air.

" Is it he?" quoth one, "Is this the man?

Mariner hath By him who died on cross,

been accorded

to the Polar

Spirit, who returneth southward.

With his cruel bow he laid full low,

The harmless Albatross.

The spirit who bideth by himself

In the land of mist and snow,

He loved the bird that loved the man

Who shot him with his bow."

The other was a softer voice,

As soft as honey-dew:

Quoth he, "The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do."

OF

THE ANCIENT MARINER.

PART THE SIXTH.

FIRST VOICE.

BUT tell me, tell me! speak again,

Thy soft response renewing

What 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.

The Mariner But why drives on that ship so fast,

cast into a trance; for the angelic

power causeth

the vessel to

drive north

Without or wave or wind?

SECOND VOICE.

ward faster

than human The air is cut away before,

life could

endure.

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 superna I woke, and we were sailing on

tural motion

is retarded;

the Mariner

awakes, and

As in a gentle weather :

his penance 'Twas night, calm night, the Moon was high ;

begins anew.

The dead men stood together.

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.

And now this spell was snapt: once more
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.

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

The curse is finally expiated.

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