THE LOST LOVE. SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways A maid whom there were none to praise, A violet by a mossy stone -Fair as a star, when only one She lived unknown, and few could know But she is in her grave, and O! The difference to me! A PORTRAIT. HE was a phantom of delight SHE When first she gleamed upon iny sight; A lovely apparition, sent To be a moment's ornament; Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair; I saw her upon nearer view, Her household motions light and free, A countenance in which did meet And now I see with eye serene BY THE SEA. IT is a beauteous evening, calm and free; The holy time is quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity; The gentleness of heaven is on the Sea; Listen! the mighty being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder-everlastingly. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. AN Ancient Mariner meeteth three gallants bid den to a wedding feast, and detaineth one. The Wedding Guest is spellbound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and constrained to hear his tale. Τ IN SEVEN PARTS. PART I. IT is an Ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three: "By thy long gray beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me ? "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin ; The guests are met, the feast is set Mayst hear the merry din." He holds him with his skinny hand: "There was a ship," quoth he. "Hold off! unhand me, gray-beard loon!" Eftsoons his hand dropt he. He holds him with his glittering eye— The Wedding-Guest stood still; The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone- "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared; Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the light-house top. "The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he; And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea; "Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, The bride hath paced into the hall— Nodding their heads before her goes The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, The bright-eyed Mariner: "And now the Storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong; He struck with his o'ertaking wings, And chased us south along. "With sloping masts and dipping prow— As who pursued with yell and blow Still treads the shadow of his foe, The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the Line. The WeddingGuest heareth the bridal music; but the Mariner continueth his tale. The ship drawn by a storm tow ard the south pole. The land of ice, and of fearful sounds, where no living thing was to be seen. Till a great sea- And lo! the Al And forward bends his head The ship drove fast; loud roared the blast, "And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold; And ice, mast-high, came floating by, "And through the drifts the snowy cliffs Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken- “The ice was here, the ice was there, It cracked and growled, and roared and Like noises in a swound! "At length did cross an Albatross- As if it had been a Christian soul, "It ate the food it ne'er had eat, batross proveth a The helmsman steered us through! bird of good omen, and fol loweth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice. "And a good south wind sprang up The Albatross did follow, And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariners' hollo! behind; |