"Around, around, flew each sweet sound, Then darted to the Sun; Slowly the sounds came back again, "Sometimes a-drooping from the sky Sometimes all little birds that are, "And now 'twas like all instruments, Now like a lonely flute; And now it is an angel's song, That makes the heavens be mute. "It ceased; yet still the sails made on A pleasant noise till noon, A noise like of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June, That to the sleeping woods all night "Till noon we quietly sailed on, "Under the keel nine fathom deep, The sails at noon left off their tune, "The Sun, right up above the mast, Had fixed her to the ocean: But in a minute she 'gan stir, With a short, uneasy motion Backwards and forwards half her length With a short, uneasy motion. "Then like a pawing horse let go, She made a sudden bound: It flung the blood into my head, "How long in that same fit I lay, But ere my living life returned, "Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man? By him who died on cross, With his cruel bow he laid full low The harmless Albatross. 66 "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 penance more will do.'" PART VI First Voice BUT tell me, tell me! speak again, "B Thy soft response renewing What makes that ship drive on so fast? Second Voice "'Still as a slave before his lord, His great bright eye most silently "If he may know which way to go; First Voice 66 'But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind?'36 Second Voice ""The air is cut away before, And closes from behind. "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.' 36. The mariner has been thrown into a trance, for the ship is being driven northward faster than a human being could endure. |