Hear the rime of the ancient mariner
See his eye 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
But when the fog clears
they justify him
and make themselves
a 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
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
There calls the mariner
There comes a ship o'er 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
The curse it lives on in their eyes
The mariner he wished he'd die
along with the sea creatures
But they lived on
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
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 still is sought
penance starts again
Cast into a trance
and the nightmare carries on
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 pilot's boat
his son and the hermit
Penance of life
will fall onto him
And the ship it sinks
like lead into the sea
And the hermit shrives
the mariner of his sins
The mariner's bound
to tell of his story
To tell this 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 and on