"Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man that penance long By Him who died on cross, With his cruel bow he laid full low The harmless Albatross. "The spirit who bideth by himself In the land of mist and snow, He loved the bird that loved the man Who shot him with his bow.' "The other was a softer voice, As soft as honey-dew; Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, and heavy for the ancient Mariner hath been accorded to the Polar Spirit, who returneth southward. PART VI. FIRST VOICE. "BUT tell me, tell me! speak again, Thy soft response renewing What makes that ship drive on so fast? SECOND VOICE. "Still as a slave before his lord, The Ocean hath no blast; His great bright eye most silently Up to the Moon is cast F "If he may know which way to go; The Mariner hath been cast into a trance; for the angelic power causeth the vessel to drive northward faster than human life can endure. The supernatural motion is re tarded; the Ma riner awakes, and his penance begins anew. FIRST VOICE. "But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind?' SECOND VOICE. 'The air is cut away before, And closes from behind. 666 Fly, brother, fly more high, more high! Or we shall be belated: For slow and slow that ship will go, When the Mariner's trance is abated.' 66 I woke, and we were sailing on As in a gentle weather: 'Twas night, calm night, the moon was high; The dead men stood together. "All stood together on the deck, For a charnel-dungeon fitter: All fixed on me their stony eyes, That in the Moon did glitter. "The pang, the curse, with which they died, Had never passed away: I could not draw my eyes from theirs, Nor turn them up to pray. |