Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

• Compare Part I.
• Hear the rime of the Ancient Mariner
• See his eyes as he stops one of three
• Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
• Stay here and listen to the nightmares
• of the sea.

• And the music plays on, as the bride passes by
• Caught by his spell and
• the Mariner tells his tale.
•  
• Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
• To a place where nobody's been
• Through the snow fog flies on the albatross
• Hailed in God's name,
• hoping good luck it brings.
•  
• And the ship sails on, back to the north
• Through the fog and ice and
• the albatross follows on
•  
• The mariner kills the bird of good omen
• His shipmates cry against what he's done
• Compare Part II.
• But when the fog clears, they justify him
• And make themselves part of the crime.
•  
• Sailing on and on and North across the sea
• Sailing on and on and North 'til all is calm.
•  
• The albatross begins with its vengeance
• A terrible curse a thirst has begun
• His shipmates blame the bad luck on the Mariner
• About his neck, the dead bird is hung.
•  
• And the curse goes on and on and on at sea,
• And the thirst goes on and on for them and me.
•  
• 'Day after day, day after day,
• we stuck nor breath nor motion
• As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean
• Water, water everywhere and
• all the boards did shrink
• Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.'
•  
• Compare Part III.
• There, calls the Mariner,
• there comes a ship over the line
• But how can she sail with no wind
• in her sails and no tide?
•  
• See... onward she comes
• Onward she nears, out of the sun
• See... she has no crew
• She has no life, wait but there's two
•  
• Death and she life in Death,
• they throw their dice for the crew
• She wins the Mariner and he belongs to her now.
• Then... crew one by one
• They drop down dead, two hundred men
• She... She, Life in Death,
• She lets him live, her chosen one.
•  
• 'One after one by the star dogged moon,
• too quick for groan or sigh
• each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
• and cursed me with his eye
• four times fifty living men
• (and I heard nor sigh nor groan),
• with heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
• they dropped down one by one.'
•  
• Compare Part IV.
• The curse it lives on in their eyes
• The Mariner he wished he 'd die
• Along with the sea creatures
• But they lived on, and so did he.
•  
• And by the light of the moon
• He prays for their beauty not doom
• With heart he blesses them
• God's creatures all of them too
•  
• Then the spell starts to break
• The albatross falls from his neck
• Sinks down like lead into the sea
• Compare Part V.
• Then down in falls comes the rain.
•  
• Hear the groans of the long dead seamen
• See them stir and they start to rise
• Bodies lifted by good spirits
• None of them speak
• and they're lifeless in their eyes.
•  
• And revenge is still sought, penance starts again
• Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on.
•  
• Compare Part VI.
• Now the curse is finally lifted
• And the Mariner sights his home
• Spirits go from the long dead bodies
• Form their own light and
• the Mariner's left alone.
•  
• And then a boat came sailing towards him
• It was a joy he could not believe
• The pilots boat, his son and the hermit.
• Penance of life will fall onto Him.
•  
• Compare Part VII.
• And the ship sinks like lead into the sea
• And the hermit shrieves the Mariner of his sins.
•  
• The Mariner 's bound to tell of his story
• To tell his tale wherever he goes
• To teach God's word by his own example
• That we must love all things that God made.
•  
• And the wedding guest 's a sad and wiser man
• And the tale goes on and on and on.