Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/695

 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less That stands above the rock: The moonlight steep'd in silentness The steady weathercock.

��And the bay was white with silent light Till rising from the same, Full many shapes, that shadows were, In crimson colours came.

A little distance from the prow

Those crimson shadows were

I turned my eyes upon the deck

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat, And, by the holy rood' A man all light, a seraph-man, On every corse there stood.

This seraph-band, each waved his hand: It was a heavenly sight' They stood as signals to the land, Each one a lovely light;

This seraph-band, each waved his hand, No voice did they impart No voice, but O, the silence sank Like music on my heart.

But soon I heard the dash of oars,

1 heard the Pilot's cheer,

My head was turn'd perforce away, And I saw a boat appear.

��The angelic spirits leave the dead bodies,

��And appear in their own forms of light

�� �