SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

��The ancient Mariner earnestly en- treateth the Hermit to shrieve him ; and the pen ance 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,

Laugh'd 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 stepp'd forth from the boat, And scarcely he could stand.

" O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man ! " The Hermit cross'd his brow. "Say quick," quoth he, "I bid thee say What manner of man art thou ? "

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrench'd 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.

What loud uproar bursts from that door! The wedding-guests are there : But in the garden-bower the bride And bride-maids singing are :

�� �