'The cold sweat melted from their limbs, 'Ne rot, ne reek did they; 'The look with which they look'd on me, 'Had never pass'd away. 'An Orphan's Curse would drag to Hell 'Is the Curse in a dead man's eye! Seven days, seven nights I saw that Curse, · And yet I could not die. The moving moon went up the sky And no where did abide: Softly she was going up And a star or two beside, 'Her beams bemock'd the sultry main 'Beyond the shadow of the ship 'I watch'd the water-snakes; 'They mov'd in tracks of shining white; ' and when they rear'd, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes. "Within the shadow of the ship 'I watch'd their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet-black "They coil'd and swam; and every track • Was a flash of golden fire. '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; 1-1 'O Sleep! it is a gentle thing, • Belov'd from Pole to Pole! 'To Mary-queen the praise be yeven, '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. The roaring wind! it roar'd far off, " It did not come anear; • But with its sound it shook the sails 'That were so thin and sere. The upper air bursts into life, 'The coming wind doth roar more loud; The sails do sigh like sedge: 'The rain pours down from one black cloud And the moon is at its edge. • Hark! hark! the thick black cloud is cleft, And the moon is at its side: 'Like waters shot from some high crag, The strong wind reach'd the ship; it roar'd 'And dropp'd down like a stone! 'Beneath the lightning and the moon The dead men gave a groan . They groan'd, they stirr'd, they all uprose, Ne spake, ne mov'd their eyes: 'It had been strange, even in a dream To have seen those dead men rise. 'The helmsman steer'd, the ship mov'd on; 'Yet never a breeze up-blew; The marineres 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— ' And I quak'd to think of my own voice 'How frightful it would be! The day-light 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. |