O happy living things! no tongue Their beauty might declare: A spring of love gusht from my heart, And I bless'd them unaware! Sure my kind saint took pity on me, And I bless'd them unaware. The self-same moment I could pray; And from my neck so free The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea. V. O sleep, it is a gentle thing Belov'd from pole to pole! To Mary-queen the praise be given She sent the gentle sleep from heaven That slid into my soul. The silly buckets on the deck That had so long remain'd, I dreamt that they were fill'd with dew And when I awoke it rain'd. My lips were wet, my throat was cold, My garments all were dank; Sure I had drunken in my dreams And still my body drank. I mov'd and could not feel my limbs, I was so light, almost I thought that I had died in sleep, And was a blessed Ghost. And soon I heard a roaring wind, It did not come anear; But with its sound it shook the sails That were so thin and sere. The upper air burst into life And a hundred fire-flags sheen To and fro they were hurried about; And to and fro, and in and out The wan stars danc'd between. And the coming wind did roar more loud; And the sails did sigh like sedge: And the rain pour'd down from one black cloud The moon was at its edge. The thick black cloud was cleft, and still The Moon was at its side: Like waters shot from some high crag, The lightning fell, with never a jag A river steep and wide. The loud wind never reach'd the Ship, Yet now the Ship mov'd on! Beneath the lightning and the moon The dead men gave a groan. They groan'd; they stirr'd, they all uprose, Nor spake, nor mov'd their eyes: It had been strange, even in a dream To have seen those dead men rise, The helmsman steerd, the ship mov'd on; Yet never a breeze up-blew; The Mariners all gan work the ropes, Where they were wont to do: They rais'd their limbs like lifeless tools-- We were a ghastly crew. The body of my brother's son Stood by me knee to knee: The body and I pull'd at one rope, But he said nought to me. "I fear thee, ancient Mariner!" "Be calm, thou wedding guest! 'Twas not those souls, that fled in pain, Which to their corses came again, But a troop of Spirits blest:" "For when it dawn'd--they dropp'd their arms, And cluster'd round the mast: Sweet sounds rose slowly thro' their mouths And from their bodies pass'd." Around, around, flew each sweet sound, Then darted to the sun: Slowly the sounds came back again Now mix'd, now one by one. Sometimes a dropping from the sky I heard the Sky-lark sing; Sometimes all little birds that are How they seem'd to fill the sea and air With their sweet jargoning.