I watched the water-snakes:
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
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware. The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
/ 437
260
270
280
.
43 8 / SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
Part 5
Oh 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. By grace of the holy The silly4 buckets on the deck,
Mother, the ancient
Mariner is refreshed That had so long remained,
with rain.
I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
And when I awoke, it rained. My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;
Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank. I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
I was so light?almost
I thought that I had died in sleep,
And was a blessed ghost.
He heareth sounds
and seeth strange And soon I heard a roaring wind: sights and commo-It did not come anear;
tions in the sky and
But with its sound it shook the sails,
the element.
That were so thin and sere. The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,5
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between. And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the sails did sigh like sedge;6
