The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I looked upon the rotting sea, And drew my eyes away; I looked upon the rotting deck, And there the dead men lay.

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

The other was a softer voice, As soft as honey-dew: Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, And penance more will do."

The harbour-bay was clear as glass, So smoothly it was strewn! And on the bay the moonlight lay, And the shadow of the moon.

No voice did they impart— No voice; but oh! the silence sank Like music on my heart.

How loudly his sweet voice he rears! He loves to talk with marineres That come from a far countree.

Since then, at an uncertain hour, That agony returns; And till my ghastly tale is told, This heart within me burns.