Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/698

 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

I moved my lips the Pilot shriek'd And fell down in a fit; The holy Hermit raised his eyes, And pray'd where he did sit.

I took the oars: the Pilot's boy,

Who now doth crazy go,

Laugh'd loud and long, and all the while

His eyes went to and fro.

"Ha' ha'" quoth he, "full plain I *ec

The Devil knows how to row."

The ancient

M^mer And now, all in my own countrce,

earnestly en- '

shnevehimj The Hermit stepped forth from the boat,

and the pen- A,. . ., ,

anceofhfe And scarcely he could stand.

falls on him

The Hermit crossed his brow. "Say quick," quoth he, "I bid thcc sa\ What manner of man art thou?"
 * 'O shrieve me, bhricve me, holy man'"

And ever

and anon Forthwith this frame of mine was wrench *d

throughout

his future life With a wof ul agony,

constrameth Which forced me to begin my tale;

him to travel ATI i r r

from land to And then it left me iree.

land)

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

I pass, like night, from land to land; I have strange power of speech;

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