“The moving Moon went up the sky,
  And nowhere did abide: 
  Softly she was going up, 265
  And a star or two beside—­

  “Her beams bemocked the sultry main,[38]
  Like April hoar-frost spread;
  But where the ship’s huge shadow lay,
  The charmed water burnt alway 270
  A still and awful red.

  “Beyond the shadow of the ship,
  I watched the water-snakes: 
  They moved in tracks of shining white,
  And when they reared, the elfish light 275
  Fell off in hoary flakes.[39]

  “Within the shadow of the ship
  I watched their rich attire: 
  Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
  They coiled and swam; and every track 280
  Was a flash of golden fire.

  “O happy living things! no tongue
  Their beauty might declare: 
  A spring of love gushed from my heart,
  And I blessed them unaware:  285
  Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
  And I blessed them unaware.

  “The selfsame moment I could pray;
  And from my neck so free
  The Albatross fell off, and sank 290
  Like lead into the sea.”

PART V

  “O sleep! it is a gentle thing,
  Beloved from pole to pole! 
  To Mary Queen the praise be given! 
  She sent the gentle sleep from heaven, 295
  That slid into my soul.

  “The silly[40] buckets on the deck,
  That had so long remained,
  I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
  And when I awoke, it rained. 300

  “My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
  My garments all were dank;[41]
  Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
  And still my body drank.

  “I moved, and could not feel my limbs:  305
  I was so light—­almost
  I thought that I had died in sleep,
  And was a blessed ghost.

  “And soon I heard a roaring wind: 
  It did not come anear; 310
  But with its sound it shook the sails,
  That were so thin and sere.

  “The upper air burst into life! 
  And a hundred fire-flags sheen,[42]
  To and fro they were hurried about! 315
  And to and fro, and in and out,
  The wan[43] stars danced between.

  “And the coming wind did roar more loud,
  And the sails did sigh like sedge;
  And the rain poured down from one black cloud, 320
  The Moon was at its edge.

  “The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
  The Moon was at its side: 
  Like waters shot from some high crag,
  The lightning fell with never a jag, 325
  A river steep and wide.

  “The loud wind never reached the ship,
  Yet now the ship moved on! 
  Beneath the lightning and the Moon
  The dead men gave a groan. 330