And he stoppeth one of three.
"By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
May'st hear the merry din.
"There was a ship," quoth he.
"Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years child:
The Mariner hath his will.
He cannot chuse but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the light-house top.
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.
Till over the mast at noon-
The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.
Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.
Yet he cannot chuse but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
Was tyrannous and strong:
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased south along.
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye we fled.
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken-
The ice was all between.
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners' hollo!
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.