SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less That stands above the rock : The moonlight steep'd in silentness The steady weathercock.

��And the bay was white with silent light Till rising from the same, Full many shapes, that shadows were, In crimson colours came.

A little distance from the prow

Those crimson shadows were:

I turn'd my eyes upon the deck

Christ ! what saw I there !

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat, And, by the holy rood ! A man all light, a seraph-man, On every corse there stood.

This seraph-band, each waved his hand: It was a heavenly sight! They stood as signals to the land, Each one a lovely light ;

This seraph-band, each waved his hand, No voice did they impart No voice; but O, the silence sank Like music on my heart.

But soon I heard the dash of oars,

1 heard the Pilot's cheer;

My head was turn'd perforce away, And I saw a boat appear.

��The angelic spirits leave the dead bodies,

��And appear in their own forms of light.

�� �