Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/688

 The spell begins to break.

��SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

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

��By grace of the holy Mother, the ancient Mariner is refreshed \vith rain.

��He heareth sounds arid seeth strange sights and commotions in the sky and the element

��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, 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 moved, and could not feel my limbs: I was so light almost I thought that 1 had died in sleep, And was a blessed ghost.

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

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