Hear the rime of the ancient marinerSee his eye as he stops one of threeMesmerizes one of the wedding guestsStay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea
And the music plays on, as the bride passes byCaught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale
Driven south to the land of the snow and iceTo a place where nobody's beenThrough the snow fog flies on the albatrossHailed in God's name, hoping good luck it bringsAnd the ship sails on, back to the NorthThrough the fog and ice and the albatross follows on
The mariner kills the bird of good omenHis shipmates cry against what he's doneBut when the fog clears, they justify himAnd make themselves a part of the crime
Sailing on and on and north across the seaSailing on and on and north 'til all is calm
The albatross begins with its vengeanceA terrible curse, a thirst has begunHis shipmates blame bad luck on the marinerAbout his neck the dead bird is hung
And the curse goes on and on and on at seaAnd the thirst goes on and on for them and me
Day after day, day after day, we stuck, no breath nor motionAs idle as a painted ship upon a painted oceanWater, water everywhere and all the boards did shrinkWater, water everywhere nor any drop to drink
"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 crewShe wins the mariner and he belongs to her nowThen, crew one by oneThey drop down dead, two hundred menShe, she, Life-in-DeathShe lets him live, her chosen one
One after one by the star dogged moonToo quick for groan or sighEach turned his face with a ghastly pangAnd cursed me with his eyeFour times 50 living men(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)With heavy thump, a lifeless lumpThey dropped down, one by one
The curse it lives on in their eyesThe mariner he wished he'd dieAlong with the sea creaturesBut they lived on, so did he
And by the light of the moonHe prays for their beauty not doomWith heart he blesses themGod's creatures all of them too
Then the spell starts to breakThe albatross falls from his neckSinks down like lead into the seaThen down in falls comes the rain, ha, ha, ha
Hear the groans of the long dead seamenSee them stir and they start to riseBodies lifted by good spiritsNone of them speak and they're lifeless in their eyes
And revenge is still sought, penance starts againCast into a trance and the nightmare carries on
Now the curse is finally liftedAnd the mariner sights his homeSpirits go from the long dead bodiesForm their own light and the mariner's left alone
And then a boat came sailing towards himIt was a joy he could not believeThe pilot's boat, his son and the hermitPenance of life will fall onto him
And the ship it sinks like lead into the seaAnd the hermit shrives the mariner of his sins
The mariner's bound to tell of his storyTo tell this tale wherever he goesTo teach God's word by his own exampleThat we must love all things that God made
And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser manAnd the tale goes on and on and on and on
