IV.
"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 220 "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; 225 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 230 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. 235
I look'd to Heav'n, 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, 240 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, 245 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: 250 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, 255 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; 260 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: 265 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: 270 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: 275 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; 280 And from my neck so free The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea.