I pass like night from land to land,
I have strange powers of speech;
That moment that his face I see
I know the man that must hear me:
To him my tale I teach.
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
"By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stoppeth thou me?"
The Bridegroom's doors are open wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
May'st hear the merry din."
The Mariner holds him with his skinny hand, "There was a ship,"
"Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"
He holds him with his glittering eye -
The Wedding-Guest stood still
And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.
The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
He cannot chose but hear.
The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
The Sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright and on the right
Went down into the sea.
The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.
The bride had paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;
The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
"And now the STORM - BLAST came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong:

He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wonderous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald

And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beast we ken -
The ice was all between.
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled
Like noises in a swound!
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed in God's name.
It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!
And a good South wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the Mariner's hollo!
(Hallo, hallo, come then, eat this.)
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered at the white Moon-shine"
"God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the friends, that plague thee thus!

Why look'st thou so?" - With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
(Why kill it? Why kill it?)
And the good south wind still blew behind,

But no sweet bird did follow,
Nor any day for food or play
Came to the Mariners' hollo!
And I had done a hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah! Wretch! The bird to slay, That made the breeze to blow.
Ah! Wretch! The bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow

Ah! Wretch! The bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!
(The God is lost,
I cannot hear him shout,
Here in the dark,
I cannot see his face.
His features burn,
His head a honey-comb,
Burns in the maze,
Behind my glued and crippled, limping eyes,)
Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
The glorious sun uprist:
Then all avered, I had killed the bird,
That made the breeze to blow.
Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropped down,

That made the breeze to blow.
Ah! Wretch! The bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!
(The God is lost,
I cannot hear him shout,
Here in the dark,
I cannot see his face.
His features burn,
His head a honey-comb,
Burns in the maze,
Behind my glued and crippled, limping eyes,)

Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
The glorious sun uprist:
Then all avered, I had killed the bird,
That made the breeze to blow.
Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropped down,

'Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!
All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.
All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
The very deep did rot: 0 Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon a slimy sea. About, about, in real and rout
The death-fires dance at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white,
Burnt green, and blue and white,
About, about, in real and rout
The death-fires dance at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white,
Burnt green, and blue and white,
The death-fires dance at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white,
Burnt green, and blue and white,
And some in dreams assured were
Off the spirit that plagued us so;
Nine fathom deep he had followed us
From the land of mist and snow.
And every tongue, through utter drought.
Was withered at the root;
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.
Ah! Well a-day! What evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

(Words in italics and brackets) are additions to the original text.