Rime of the Astral Mariner [PBSTC]

u"It is an ancient Mariner, <br>And he stoppeth one of three. <br>'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, <br>Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? <br><br>The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, <br>And I am next of kin; <br>The guests are met, the feast is set: <br>May'st hear the merry din.' <br><br>He holds him with his skinny hand, <br>'There was a ship,' quoth he. <br>'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!' <br>Eftsoons his hand dropt he. <br><br>He holds him with his glittering eye\u2014 <br>The Wedding-Guest stood still, <br>And listens like a three years' child: <br>The Mariner hath his will. <br><br>The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: <br>He cannot choose but hear; <br>And thus spake on that ancient man, <br>The bright-eyed Mariner. <br><br>'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, <br>Merrily did we drop <br>Below the kirk, below the hill, <br>Below the lighthouse top. <br><br>The Sun came up upon the left, <br>Out of the sea came he! <br>And he shone bright, and on the right <br>Went down into the sea. <br><br>Higher and higher every day, <br>Till over the mast at noon\u2014' <br>The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, <br>For he heard the loud bassoon. <br><br>The bride hath paced into the hall, <br>Red as a rose is she; <br>Nodding their heads before her goes <br>The merry minstrelsy. <br><br>The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, <br>Yet he cannot choose but hear; <br>And thus spake on that ancient man, <br>The bright-eyed Mariner. <br><br>And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he <br>Was tyrannous and strong: <br>He struck with his o'ertaking wings, <br>And chased us south along. <br><br>With sloping masts and dipping prow, <br>As who pursued with yell and blow <br>Still treads the shadow of his foe, <br>And forward bends his head, <br>The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, <br>And southward aye we fled. <br><br>And now there came both mist and snow, <br>And it grew wondrous cold: <br>And ice, mast-high, came floating by, <br>As green as emerald. <br><br>And through the drifts the snowy clifts <br>Did send a dismal sheen: <br>Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken\u2014 <br>The ice was all between. <br><br>The ice was here, the ice was there, <br>The ice was all around: <br>It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, <br>Like noises in a swound! <br><br>At length did cross an Albatross, <br>Thorough the fog it came; <br>As if it had been a Christian soul, <br>We hailed it in God's name. <br><br>It ate the food it ne'er had eat, <br>And round and round it flew. <br>The ice did split with a thunder-fit; <br>The helmsman steered us through! <br><br>And a good south wind sprung up behind; <br>The Albatross did follow, <br>And every day, for food or play, <br>Came to the mariner's hollo! <br><br>In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, <br>It perched for vespers nine; <br>Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, <br>Glimmered the white Moon-shine.' <br><br>'God save thee, ancient Mariner! <br>From the fiends, that plague thee thus!\u2014 <br>Why look'st thou so?'\u2014With my cross-bow <br>I shot the ALBATROSS."