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IH.

'I saw a something in the sky
No bigger than my fist;
'At first it seem'd a little speck
'And then it seem'd a mist:
'It mov'd, and mov'd, and took at last
'A certain shape I wist.

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it ner'd and ner'd;
And, an it dodg'd a water-sprite,
It plung'd and tack'd and veer'd.

With throat unslack'd, with black lips bak'd, Ne could we laugh, ne wail:

• Then while thro' drouth all dumb they stood 'I bit my arm and suck'd the blood

And cry'd, A sail! a sail!

With throat unslack'd, with black lips bak',

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Agape they heard me call:

Gramercy! they for joy did grin

And all at once their breath drew in

As they were drinking all.

She doth not tack from side to side'Hither to work us weal,

• Withouten wind, withouten tide She steddies with upright keel.

'The western wave was all a flame;
'The day was well nigh done!
• Almost upon the western wave
'Rested the broad bright sun;
'When that strange shape drove suddenly
6 Betwixt us and the sun.

And strait the sun was fleck'd with bars, '(Heaven's mother send us grace) 'As if thro' a dungeon grate he peer'd • With broad and burning face.

Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) 'How fast she neres and neres!

Are those her sails that glance in the sun 'Like restless Gossameres?

'Are those her naked ribs, which fleck'd • The sun that did behind them peer? And are those two all, all the crew, 'That woman and her fleshless Pheere?

'His bones were black with many à crack, • All black and bare, I ween;

'Jet-black and bare, save where with rust Of mouldy damps and charnel crust

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• Her lips are red, her looks are free,

6

Her locks are yellow as gold:

• Her skin is as white as leprosy,
And she is far liker Death than he,
• Her flesh makes the still air cold.

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 thro' his bones;

'Thro' the holes of his eyes and the hole of his mouth

"Half-whistles and half-groans.

With never a whisper in the sea
Off darts the Spectre-ship;

• While clombe above the Eastern bar
• The horned moon, with one bright star

Almost atween the tips.

25

• One after one by the horned moon,
Listen, O stranger! to me,

• Each turn'd his face with a ghastly pang
And curs'd me with his ee.

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Four times fifty living men,
With never a sigh or groan,
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump
They dropp'd down one by one.

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Their souls did from their bodies fly,
They fled to bliss or woe:

And every soul it pass'd me by,
'Like the whiz of my Cross-bow."

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
"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,

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'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 et.

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