50
"And now there came both mist and snow,[8]
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
"And through the drifts the snowy clifts[9] 55
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken[10]--
The ice was all between.
"The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around: 60
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound![11]
"At length did cross an Albatross,[12]
Thorough[12] the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul, 65
We hailed it 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. 70
"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!
"In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,[14] 75
It perched for vespers nine;[15]
Whiles[16] all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white moon-shine."
"God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends that plague thee thus!-- 80
Why look'st thou so?"--"With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.
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