TESTO INGLESE
RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER
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Part I
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stopped one of three.
"By thy long gray beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
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[...]
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"The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
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"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.
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[...]
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"And now the Storm-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong:
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.
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[...]
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"At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.
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[...]
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"God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fields, that plague thee thus!-
Why look'st thou so?" - "With my crossbow.
I shot the Albatross.
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Part II
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"The Sun now rose upon the right:
Out of the sea came he,
Still hid in mist, and on the left
Went down into the sea.
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[...]
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"And I had done a hellish thing,
And it would work'em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
.At wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!
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[...]
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"The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
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[...]
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"Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
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"Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
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"The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.
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[...]
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Part III
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[...]
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail,
Throu utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! A sail!
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[...]
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"See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
Hither to work us weal,
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!
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"The western wave was all aflame.
The day was well-nigh done!
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun;
.When that strange shape drove suddenly
Betwixt us and the Sun.
[...]
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"We listened and looked sideways up!
Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
My lifeblood seemed to sip!
The stars were dim, and thick the night,
The steersman's face by his lamp gleamed white;
From the sails the dew did drip-
Till clomb above the aestern bar
The hornèd Moon, with one bright star
Within the nether tip.
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.
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[...]
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Part IV
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[...]
"An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is a curse in a dead man's eye!
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Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.
"The moving Moon went up the sky,
And nowhere did abide:
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside-
[...]
Part VII`
[...]
The Mariner, whose eye is bright
Whose beard with age is hoar,
Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest
Turned from the bridegroom's door.
He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798)
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