SELECTIONS IN'ENGLISH POETRY

The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey dew :
Quoth he, "The man hath penance

done,
And penance more will do."

PART THE SIXTH
First Voice.

4 "But tell me, tell me! speak again,
Thy soft response renewing—
What makes that ship drive on so fast ?
What is the Ocean doing?"

Second Voice.

"Still as a slave before his lord,
The Ocean hath no blast;
His great bright eye most silently
Up to the Moon is cast—

"If he may know which way to go;
For she guides him smooth*or grim.
See, brother, see! how graciously
She looketh down on him."

First Voice.

"But why drives on that ship so fast,
Without or wave or wind?"

Second Voice.

"The air is cut away before,
And closes from behind.
"Fly, brother, fly! more high, more

high!
102

410

The Mariner
hath been cast
into a trance;

for the angelic

power causeth

the vessel to drive

northward

faster than

human life could

endure.

415

420

425