"The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!...
At length did cross an Albatross:
Through the fog it came...
And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners' hollo!"
But, the Mariner became suspicious of the albatross and wasn't convinced that the bird brought cheer or woe:
"God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!--
Why look'st thou so?"--
With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross."
THUS THE ANCIENT MARINER BROUGHT A CURSE UPON HIMSELF AND WITH SOME CONVINCING, THE CREW AGREED, THUS BRINGING THE CURSE UPON THEM AS WELL. SINCE THE ALBATROSS MADE THE WIND, THE SHIP STALLED IN THE DOLDRUMS:
"Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean...
And...
Four times fifthy living men
(and I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.
The souls did from their bodies fly,--
They fled to bliss or woe!
And every soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my cross-bow!"
