"Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, The boat spun round and round;

The ancient Ma riner earnestly entreateth the Hermit to shrieve him; and the

penance of life

falls on him:

And ever and anon throughout his future life an agony constraineth him to travel from land to land,

"I took the oars: the Pilot's boy,

Who now doth crazy go,

Laughed loud and long, and all the while

His eyes went to and fro.

'Ha ha!' quoth he, 'full plain I see,

The Devil knows how to row.'

"And now, all in my own countree,

I stood on the firm land!

The Hermit stepped forth from the boat,
And scarcely he could stand.

666

"O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!'
The Hermit crossed his brow.

'Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee say—
What manner of man art thou?'

"Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched With a woful agony,

Which forced me to begin my tale;

And then it left me free.

"Since then, at an uncertain hour,

That agony returns:

And till my ghastly tale is told,

This heart within me burns.

"I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;

That moment that his face I see,

I know the man that must hear me :

To him my tale I teach.