The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 古舟子咏 by 柯勒律治(MP3+双语)
《古舟子咏》是柯勒律治最具代表性的作品。作为浪漫主义时期伟大的诗人之一,柯勒律治的作品并不多,《古舟子咏》是柯勒律治最伟大的诗篇。这些诗表现了诗人奇特的想象力如何驰骋在遥远的海洋和中古的月下城堡之间,立意新颖,感情激荡,想象奇特,语言瑰丽,音律优美,代表了浪漫主义的神秘,奇幻的一面,在技巧上则发掘了诗的音乐美。他还写有一些伤感,阴郁的抒情短诗,表现了诗人不幸的生活遭遇和抑郁的心情。他写有大量的文学、哲学,神学论著,论述精辟,见解独到,在英国文学史上占有重要地位。
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 古舟子咏
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 塞缪尔•T•柯勒律治
译者未知
PART I 第一章
An ancient Mariner meeteth three Gallants bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth
one.
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
他是一个年迈的水手,
从三个行人中他拦住一人,
“凭你的白须和闪亮的眼睛,
请问你为何阻拦我的路程?
The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
May'st hear the merry din.'
“新郎家的大门已经敞开,
而我是他的密友良朋,
宾客已到齐,宴席已摆好,
远远能听到笑语喧闹。”
He holds him with his skinny hand,
'There was a ship,' quoth he.
'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!'
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
他枯瘦的手把行人抓住,
喃喃言道:”曾有一艘船。”
“走开,撒手,你这老疯子!”
他随即放手不再纠缠。
The Wedding-Guest is spell-bound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and
constrained to hear his tale. He holds him with his glittering eye--
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.
但他炯炯的目光将行人摄住——
使赴宴的客人停步不前,
像三岁的孩子听他讲述,
老水手实现了他的意愿。
The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
He cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
赴宴的客人坐在石头上,
不由自主地听他把故事讲:
就这样老水手继续往下说,
两眼闪着奇异的光芒。
'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
“船在欢呼声中驶出海港,
乘着落潮我们愉快出航,
驶过教堂,驶过山岗,
最后连灯塔也消失在远方。
The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather,
till it reached the Line.
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.
“只见太阳从左边升起,
从那万顷碧波的汪洋里!
它终日在天空辉煌照耀,
然后从右边落进大海里。
Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon--'
The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.
“它每天升得越来越高,
正午时直射桅杆的顶极——”
赴宴的客人捶打着胸膛,
当听到巴松管嘹亮的乐曲。
The Wedding-Guest heareth the bridal music; but the Mariner continueth his tale.
The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.
这时新娘已跨进大门,
她如鲜红的玫瑰一样漂亮;
行吟诗人走在她前面,
摇头摆尾快乐地歌唱。
The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
赴宴的客人捶打着胸膛,
但不由自主地听他把故事讲;
就这样老水手继续往下说,
两眼闪烁着奇异的光芒。
The ship driven by a storm toward the south pole.
'And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong:
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.
“这时大海上刮起了风暴,
它来势凶猛更叫人胆寒;
它张开飞翅追击着船只,
不停地把我们向南驱赶。
With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
The southward aye we fled.
“桅杆弓着身,船头淌着水,
像有人在背后追打叫喊,
却总是躲不开敌人的影子,
只好低着头任其摧残,
船儿在疾驶,狂风在呼啸,
我们一个劲儿往南逃窜。
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
“接着出现了浓雾和冰雪,
天气奇寒,冻彻骨髓;
如樯的冰山从船旁漂过,
晶莹碧绿,色如翡翠。
The land of ice, and of fearful sounds where no living thing was to be seen.
And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--
The ice was all between.
“冰山射出惨淡的光芒,
在飘流的云雾中若明若灭:
四周既无人迹也无鸟兽——
只有一望无际的冰雪。
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!
“这儿是冰雪,那儿是冰雪,
到处都是冰雪茫茫;
冰雪在怒吼,冰雪在咆哮,
像人昏厥时听到隆隆巨响!
Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was
received with great joy and hospitality.
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.
“终于飞来了一头信天翁,
它穿过海上弥漫的云雾,
仿佛它也是一个基督徒,
我们以上帝的名义向它欢呼。
It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!
“它吃着丛未吃过的食物,
又绕着船儿盘旋飞舞。
坚冰霹雳一声突然裂开,
舵手把我们引上了新途!
And lo! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it
returned northward through fog and floating ice.
And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo!
“南来的好风在船后吹送;
船旁紧跟着那头信天翁,
每天为了食物或玩耍,
水手们一招呼它就飞进船中!
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'
“它在桅索上栖息了九夜;
无论是雾夜或满天阴云:
而一轮皎月透过白雾,
迷离闪烁,朦朦胧胧。”
The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.
'God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!--
Why look'st thou so?'--With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
“上帝保佑你吧,老水手!
别让魔鬼把你缠住身!——
你怎么啦?”——”是我用弓箭,
射死了那头信天翁。”
PART II 第二章
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.
“现在太阳从右边升起,
从那万顷碧波的汪洋里;
但它终日被云雾缭绕,
然后从左边落进大海里。
And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,
Nor any day for food or play
Came to the mariners' hollo!
“南来的好风仍在船后吹送,
但再不见那可爱的信天翁,
也不再为了食物或玩耍,
水手们一招呼就飞进船中!
His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner, for killing the bird of good luck.
And I had done an hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!
“我干了一件可怕的事情,
它使全船的人遭到了不幸;
他们都说我射死了那头鸟,
正是它带来了海上的和风。
他们咒骂我,这个恶棍,
他不该杀死那头信天翁!
But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves
accomplices in the crime.
Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
The glorious Sun uprist:
Then all averred, I had killed the bird
That brought the fog and mist.
'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
That bring the fog and mist.
“当艳阳高照不再又暗又红,
而像上帝头上灿烂的光轮,
大家又改口说我做得对,
应该射死那带来迷雾的信天翁。
The fair breeze continues; the ship enters the Pacific Ocean, and sails northward,
even till it reaches the Line.
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
“惠风吹拂,白浪飞溅,
船儿轻快地破浪向前;
我们是这里的第一批来客,
闯进这一片沉寂的海面。
The ship hath been suddenly becalmed.
Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
'Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!
“风全停了,帆也落了,
四周的景象好不凄凉;
只为打破海上的沉寂,
我们才偶尔开口把话讲。
All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.
“正午血红的太阳,高悬在
灼热的铜黄色的天上,
正好直射着桅杆的尖顶,
大小不过像一个月亮。
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
“过了一天,又是一天,
我们停滞在海上无法动弹;
就像一幅画中的航船,
停在一幅画中的海面。
And the Albatross begins to be avenged.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
“水呵水,到处都是水,
船上的甲板却在干涸;
水呵水,到处都是水,
却没有一滴能解我焦渴。
The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.
“大海本身在腐烂,呵上帝!
这景象实在令人心悸!
一些长着腿的粘滑的东西,
在粘滑的海面上爬来爬去。
About, about, in reel and rout
The death-fires danced at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white.
“到了夜晚死火出现在海上,
在我们四周旋舞飞扬;
而海水好似女巫的毒油,
燃着青、白碧绿的幽光。
A Spirit had followed them; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither
departed souls nor angels; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the
Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted. They are very
numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more.
And some in dreams assuréd were
Of the Spirit that plagued us so;
Nine fathom deep he had followed us
From the land of mist and snow.
“有人说他在睡梦中看见了
那给我们带来灾难的精灵;
他来自那冰封雾锁的地方,
在九噚的水下紧紧相跟。
And every tongue, through utter drought,
Was withered at the root;
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.
“我们滴水不进极度干渴,
连舌根也好象已经枯萎;
我们说不出话发不出声,
整个咽喉像塞满了烟灰。
The shipmates, in their sore distress, would fain throw the whole guilt on the ancient
Mariner: in sign whereof they hang the dead sea-bird round his neck.
Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
“呵!天哪!这全船老小
都向我射来凶恶的目光!
他们摘下我戴的十字架,
而把死鸟挂在我脖子上。
PART III 第三章
There passed a weary time. Each throat
Was parched, and glazed each eye.
A weary time! a weary time!
How glazed each weary eye,
When looking westward, I beheld
A something in the sky.
“焦躁的时光呵,人人喉焦
舌干,两眼如蒙上一层釉,
焦躁的时光呵!焦躁的时光!
焦躁的眼睛如蒙上一层釉!
当我向西远眺,突然看见
有个东西在空中飘游。
The ancient Mariner beholdeth a sign in the element afar off.
At first it seemed a little speck,
And then it seemed a mist;
It moved and moved, and took at last
A certain shape, I wist.
“起初只是个小小的斑点,
后来又仿佛是一团云雾:
它不断向前移动,终于
像是个物体看得很清楚。
A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared and neared:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tacked and veered.
“一个斑点,一团雾,一个物体!
它不断移动越飘越近,
它仿佛在躲避着水妖,
左右打转,盘旋而进。
At its nearer approach, it seemeth him to be a ship; and at a dear ransom he freeth
his speech from the bonds of thirst.
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail!
“嘴唇焦黑,喉咙干涸,
我们既不能笑也不能喊;
我咬破手臂吮了几口血,
才喊出声:‘一艘船!一艘船!’
A flash of joy;
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
Agape they heard me call:
Gramercy! they for joy did grin,
And all at once their breath drew in,
As they were drinking all.
“嘴唇焦黑,喉咙干涸,
他们张大着嘴听我叫喊:
老天爷,他们都咧嘴笑了,
一个个突然大口吸气,
好象在痛饮救命的甘泉。
And horror follows. For can it be a ship that comes onward without wind or tide?
See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
Hither to work us weal;
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!
“‘看!看!(我喊着)它不再打转!
她将来这里消灾化难,
海上既没刮风也没涨潮,
她却昂举船首破浪而前!’
The western wave was all a-flame.
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.
“西边的海波似一片火焰;
此时白昼将尽已近夜晚:
一轮巨大的灿烂的夕阳,
将坠未坠在西方的海面;
突然,那个奇怪的物体,
闯进了太阳和我们之间。
It seemeth him but the skeleton of a ship.
And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,
(Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
As if through a dungeon-grate he peered
With broad and burning face.
“太阳随即蒙上条条暗影,
(愿天国之母赐我们怜悯!)
他仿佛隔着狱栅向外张望,
露出巨大的燃烧的面容。
And its ribs are seen as bars on the face of the setting Sun.
Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
How fast she nears and nears!
Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
Like restless gossameres?
“呵!(我想,心儿怦怦乱跳)
她疾驶如飞越来越近!
那在日光中闪烁的可是帆蓬,
它们如游丝一般飘摇不定?
The Spectre-Woman and her Death-mate, and no other on board the skeleton ship.
And those her ribs through which the Sun
Did peer, as through a grate?
And is that Woman all her crew?
Is that a DEATH? and are there two?
Is DEATH that woman's mate?
“那如狱栅的可是船的腰骨,
太阳正从栅后向外窥探?
莫非船上只有那个妖妇?
莫非死亡就是她的同伴?
[first version of this stanza through the end of Part III]
Like vessel, like crew!
Her lips were red, her looks were free,
Her locks were yellow as gold:
Her skin was as white as leprosy,
The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold.
“她嘴唇腥红,姿色妖艳,
长长的秀发如金子般耀眼:
皮肤却似麻风病人般苍白,
她是一个死中之生的梦魇,
使人血液凝冻,毛骨悚然。
Death and Life-in-Death have diced for the ship's crew, and she (the latter) winneth
the ancient Mariner.
The naked hulk alongside came,
And the twain were casting dice;
`The game is done! I've won! I've won!'
Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
“那无人的荒船向我们靠拢,
死亡与生命在掷骰争胜;
‘赌局已定,我赢啦!’
她叫着,连吹口哨三声。
No twilight within the courts of the Sun.
The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:
At one stride comes the dark;
With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea,
Off shot the spectre-bark.
“夕阳落海,群星奔涌:
转眼间黑夜已经降临;
那魔船仍在海上疾驶,
如飞箭离弦猎猎可闻。
At the rising of the Moon,
We listened and looked sideways up!
Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
My life-blood seemed to sip!
The stars were dim, and thick the night,
The steerman's face by his lamp gleamed white;
From the sails the dew did drip--
Till clomb above the eastern bar
The hornéd Moon, with one bright star
Within the nether tip.
“我们边听边斜眼偷看,
恐惧在心中吸吮着血液,
就像在把酒杯慢慢啜干!
星辰无光,夜色漆黑,
灯光映着舵手苍白的脸;
浓重的露水从帆上滴落——
直至一钩新月升起在天边,
新月下面挂着一颗星,
在夜空中闪着明亮的光焰。
One after another,
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.
“同伴们来不及呻吟叹息,
就在星月下一个个倒毙,
脸上带着剧烈的痛苦,
眼中含着诅咒和敌意。
His shipmates drop down dead.
Four times fifty living men,
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.
“算起来总共有三百人,
(但我没听到呻吟或叹息)
随着一连串扑通之声,
甲板上倒下一具具的尸体。
But Life-in-Death begins her work on the ancient Mariner.
The souls did from their bodies fly,--
They fled to bliss or woe!
And every soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my cross-bow!
“他们的灵魂从体内飞出,——
飞向幸福还是飞向痛苦?
当每个灵魂经过我身旁,
飕飕作响一如我的弓弩!”
PART IV 第四章
The Wedding-Guest feareth that a Spirit is talking to him;
'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand.
“我怕你,年迈的水手!
我怕你这双枯瘦的手!
你又瘦又高,脸色萎黄,
就像退潮后海边的沙丘。
(Coleridge's note on above stanza)
I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
And thy skinny hand, so brown.'--
Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!
This body dropt not down.
“我怕你和你灼灼的目光,
你枯瘦的手多么萎黄,”——
“不用怕我,婚礼的贵宾!
我并未在船上倒毙身亡。
But the ancient Mariner assureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his
horrible penance.
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.
“孤独呵孤独,我独自一人
在那辽阔无际的海面!
没有一位神明曾对我
心灵的痛苦表示哀怜。
He despiseth the creatures of the calm,
The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
“多少美好的人遽然离世,
直挺挺躺在甲板上面:
而万千浊物却仍然活着,
还有我也在苟延残喘。
And envieth that they should live, and so many lie dead.
I looked upon the rotting sea,
And drew my eyes away;
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.
“我望了一眼腐烂的大海,
赶紧把目光从那里移开;
我望了一眼腐烂的甲板,
死去的同伴们七倒八歪。
I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;
But or ever a prayer had gusht,
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.
“我仰望苍天,想做祷告;
但未等祷词从嘴中说出,
便听得一声邪恶的低语,
顿使我的心呵干似尘土。
I closed my lids, and kept them close,
And the balls like pulses beat;
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
Lay like a load on my weary eye,
And the dead were at my feet.
“我闭上双眼,闭得很紧很紧,
而眼球却象脉博在跳动;
天空和大海,大海和天空,
沉重地压着我疲倦的眼睛。
But the curse liveth for him in the eye of the dead men.
The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
Nor rot nor reek did they:
The look with which they looked on me
Had never passed away.
“死者的躯体布满了冷汗,
却既不腐烂也不发臭:
他们临死时看我的目光,
永不消失,仍在眼中停留。
An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.
“孤儿的诅咒能使灵魂
从天上一直落入地狱;
但死人眼中的诅咒呵,
比孤儿的更令人恐惧!
七天七夜我面对那诅咒,
我想死却又不能死去。
In his loneliness and fixedness he yearneth towards the journeying Moon, and the stars that still sojourn, yet still move onward; and every where the blue sky belongs to
them, and is their appointed rest, and their native country and their own natural homes, which they enter unannounced, as lords that are certainly expected and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival.
The moving Moon went up the sky,
And no where did abide:
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside--
“月亮慢慢地升上天空,
她不断上升一刻不停:
她悄悄地,悄悄地上升,
身旁伴有一两颗星星——
Her beams bemocked the sultry main,
Like April hoar-frost spread;
But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
The charméd water burnt alway
A still and awful red.
“她洒下清光如四月的寒霜,
仿佛在嘲弄这酷热的海洋;
除了船身巨大的阴影,
着魔的海水到处在燃烧,
到处是一片红色的火光。
By the light of the Moon he beholdeth God's creatures of the great calm.
Beyond the shadow of the ship,
I watched the water-snakes:
They moved in tracks of shining white,
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.
“在那船身的阴影之外,
水蛇和白光游动在海面:
每当它们竖起蛇身时,
水泡抖落如霜花飞溅。
Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.
在那航船的阴影之内,
蛇身的颜色是多么浓艳:
蔚蓝、碧绿、晶黑;每过一处,
留下一簇金色的火焰。
Their beauty and their happiness.
He blesseth them in his heart.
O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.
“呵幸福的生命!它们的
美丽没有语言能够形容,
一阵热爱涌上我的心头,
我在心中暗暗祝福它们!
准是神明开始对我怜宥,
我在心中暗暗祝福它们。
The spell begins to break.
The self-same moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
“就在这时我又能祈祷了
而挂在我颈上的信天翁,
自己掉了下来,并象
沉重的铅块落入水中。
PART V 第五章
Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole!
To Mary Queen the praise be given!
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
That slid into my soul.
“呵睡眠!它是多么香甜,
世人有谁不将它爱宠!
我要将圣母玛利亚赞颂!
是她从天上送来酣眠,
令它悄悄潜入我的双眼。
By grace of the holy Mother, the ancient Mariner is refreshed with rain.
The silly buckets on the deck,
That had so long remained,
I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
And when I awoke, it rained.
甲板上原放着几只水桶,
桶内空空早已废弃无用,
我梦见桶内盛满了露水;
当我醒来时却躺在水中。
My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;
Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank.
“我嘴唇湿润,喉咙清凉,
我全身的衣服都已湿透;
我定在梦中把雨水喝了够,
我的身体仍在把甘霖吸收。
I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
I was so light--almost
I thought that I had died in sleep,
And was a blesséd ghost.
“当我走动时四肢如云:
我的身体是那样轻盈——
仿佛我已在睡梦中死去,
已成为一个游荡的精灵。
He heareth sounds and seeth strange sights and commotions in the sky and the
element.
And soon I heard a roaring wind:
It did not come anear;
But with its sound it shook the sails,
That were so thin and sere.
“接着便听到狂风怒吼:
但风并不向船身靠近,
只听风声摇撼着船帆,
褴褛的帆蓬飘摇不定。
The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between.
“天空骤然间获得了生命!
无数道火光如旗帜飘动;
暗淡的群星在火光间舞蹈,
迷离闪烁,时显时隐。
And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the sails did sigh like sedge;
And the rain poured down from one black cloud;
The Moon was at its edge.
“狂风的吼声越来越高,
船蓬如蓑草发出尖啸;
雨水从乌云中倾盆而下;
月亮已被乌云所遮绕。
The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
The Moon was at its side:
Like waters shot from some high crag,
The lightning fell with never a jag,
A river steep and wide.
“浓密的乌云被霍然劈开,
但月亮仍被乌云遮绕:
像瀑布从悬崖飞泻而下,
明亮的闪电直落长空,
如大河陡立把雨水倾倒。
The bodies of the ship's crew are inspired, and the ship moves on;
The loud wind never reached the ship,
Yet now the ship moved on!
Beneath the lightning and the Moon
The dead men gave a groan.
“狂风从未吹到我们船上,
但船儿却开始向前航行!
在闪电和月光下面,
死人一齐发出了呻吟。
They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
It had been strange, even in a dream,
To have seen those dead men rise.
“随着呻吟他们站了起来,
既不说话也不眨动眼睛;
眼看死人突然间挺立,
哪怕梦中也难见这奇景。
The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
Yet never a breeze up-blew;
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont to do;
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools--
We were a ghastly crew.
“舵手在掌舵,船儿在航行;
可船上却没有一丝风;
水手们又象往日一般,
一齐操作着船上的缆绳:
他们的动作象机械一样——
仿佛一群可怕的幽灵。
The body of my brother's son
Stood by me, knee to knee:
The body and I pulled at one rope,
But he said nought to me.
“在我身边是我侄儿的尸体,
他与我膝对膝站在一起:
他与我同挽一根缆绳,
但对我始终默默无语。”
But not by the souls of the men, nor by dæmons of earth or middle air, but by a
blessed troop of angelic spirits, sent down by the invocation of the guardian saint.
'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!'
Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest!
'T was not those souls that fled in pain,
Which to their corses came again,
But a troop of spirits blest:
“我怕你,年迈的水手!”
“安静点,婚礼的贵宾!
并非是怨魂重返躯体,
而是一群天使借尸显灵。
For when it dawned--they dropped their arms,
And clustered round the mast;
Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths,
And from their bodies passed.
“天亮时他们便歇手不干,
纷纷围绕在桅樯旁边,
嘴里唱出悠扬的歌声,
这歌声在海上越飞越远。
Around, around, flew each sweet sound,
Then darted to the Sun;
Slowly the sounds came back again,
Now mixed, now one by one.
“它先在四周不停地飞旋,
刹那间却已直上青天;
随后又缓缓降落到海上,
或齐声合唱,或一曲婉转。
Sometimes a-dropping from the sky
I heard the sky-lark sing;
Sometimes all little birds that are,
How they seemed to fill the sea and air
With their sweet jargoning!
“有时像云雀高歌天廷;
有时像百鸟齐唱争鸣,
仿佛整个大海和天空呵,
都充满了它们美妙的歌声!
And now 'twas like all instruments,
Now like a lonely flute;
And now it is an angel's song,
That makes the heavens be mute.
“有时乐声如万弦俱发,
有时却又像一笛独奏;
有时如仙乐在海上回荡,
使九天谛听这乐声悠悠。
It ceased; yet still the sails made on
A pleasant noise till noon,
A noise like of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,
That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune.
“乐声停了;但直到正午,
船帆仍发出悦耳的响声,
那声音宛如隐秘的溪水,
流淌在六月茂密的树丛,
它向着沉沉酣睡的树林,
整夜低吟,泠泠有声。
[Additional stanzas, dropped after the first edition.]
Till noon we quietly sailed on,
Yet never a breeze did breathe:
Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
Moved onward from beneath.
“直到正午一切平安无事,
但海上却仍无一丝风:
船儿缓慢平稳地行驶,
若有神力在水下推动。
The lonesome Spirit from the south-pole carries on the ship as far as the Line, in
obedience to the angelic troop, but still requireth vengeance.
Under the keel nine fathom deep,
From the land of mist and snow,
The spirit slid: and it was he
That made the ship to go.
The sails at noon left off their tune,
And the ship stood still also.
“在船下九寻深的水里,
从那雪雾弥漫的地方,
正是他一路推波助澜,
负舟潜游护佑它远航,
到正午时船帆哑寂无声,
船儿又重新搁浅在海上。
The Sun, right up above the mast,
Had fixed her to the ocean:
But in a minute she 'gan stir,
With a short uneasy motion--
Backwards and forwards half her length
With a short uneasy motion.
“正午时骄阳直射桅顶,
将船儿在海上牢牢固定;
但未过片刻她又动了起来,
时前时后不安地摆动。
Then like a pawing horse let go,
She made a sudden bound:
It flung the blood into my head,
And I fell down in a swound.
“然后像一匹脱缰的奔马,
船身突然向前一跃:
血液猛地涌入我脑中,
我一阵晕眩在船上摔倒。
The Polar Spirit's fellow-dæmons, the invisible inhabitants of the element, take part in
his wrong; and two of them relate, one to the other, that penance long and heavy for
the ancient Mariner hath been accorded to the Polar Spirit, who returneth southward.
How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not to declare;
But ere my living life returned,
I heard and in my soul discerned
Two voices in the air.
“我在昏迷中躺了多久,
我说不清,也不知道;
当我苏醒时,却分明听见
两个声音在耳边缭绕。
'Is it he?' quoth one, `Is this the man?
By him who died on cross,
With his cruel bow he laid full low
The harmless Albatross.
“‘告诉我,凭基督的名义,’
一个声音说,‘是不是这个人,
用他残酷的弓弩,一箭
射杀了无辜的信天翁?
The spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man
Who shot him with his bow.'
“‘在那冰封雾裹的地方,
居住着一个威严的神灵,
他爱这海鸟,这鸟爱此人,
却不料被他一箭丧生。’
The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew:
Quoth he, `The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do.'
“这时响起了另一个声音,
这声音似甘露甜美动听:
‘他已为自己的罪行忏悔,
他今后仍将无穷地悔恨。’
PART VI 第六章
FIRST VOICE 第一个声音
'But tell me, tell me! speak again,
Thy soft response renewing--
What makes that ship drive on so fast?
What is the ocean doing?'
“‘但请告诉我,请告诉我,
用你甜美动听的声音——
为何那船儿能疾驶如飞,
当茫茫大海风平浪静?’
SECOND VOICE 第二个声音
'Still as a slave before his lord,
The ocean hath no blast;
His great bright eye most silently
Up to the Moon is cast--
“‘像奴仆屏息面对着主人,
海上一片沉寂,没有一丝风;
他睁着大大的闪烁的眼睛,
仰望明月,默默无声——
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.'
“他在请求月亮给他指示;
因潮涨潮落全由她控制。
看,兄弟,看!她向他
俯视的目光是多么仁慈。’
The Mariner hath been cast into a trance; for the angelic power causeth the vessel to
drive northward faster than human life could endure.
FIRST VOICE 第一个声音
'But why drives on that ship so fast,
Without or wave or wind?'
“‘但既不刮风,也不见波浪,
为何那船能疾驶在海上?’
SECOND VOICE 第二个声音
'The air is cut away before,
And closes from behind.
Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high!
Or we shall be belated:
For slow and slow that ship will go,
When the Mariner's trance is abated.'
“‘前面的气流已被切断,
后面的气流也已凝固。
飞吧,兄弟,快向高处飞!
我们再不能耽搁延误:
因为这船将缓缓行驶,
当那水手从昏迷中复苏。
The supernatural motion is retarded; the Mariner awakes, and his penance begins
anew.
I woke, and we were sailing on
As in a gentle weather:
'Twas night, calm night, the moon was high;
“我醒来,船儿继续航行,
宛如在惠风吹拂的天气:
夜色寂寥,明月当空;
死去的人齐在船上站立。
The dead men stood together.
All stood together on the deck,
For a charnel-dungeon fitter:
All fixed on me their stony eyes,
That in the Moon did glitter.
“死去的人齐在船上站立,
仿佛这里是尸体存放所:
他们冷酷的眼睛都瞪着我,
映着皎洁的月光在闪烁。
The pang, the curse, with which they died,
Had never passed away:
I could not draw my eyes from theirs,
Nor turn them up to pray.
“他们临死前的痛苦和诅咒
一直弥留在他们的脸上:
我既不能躲避他们的眼睛,
也不能抬眼祷告上苍。
The curse is finally expiated.
And now this spell was snapt: once more
I viewed the ocean green,
And looked far forth, yet little saw
Of what had else been seen--
“最后魔法终于被解除,
我又看到蔚蓝的海洋,
我心怀余悸向远处望去,
两眼昏花只见一片苍茫。
Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
“就像一个孤独的旅人,
心惊胆战穿过野径荒丘,
他偷偷回首望了一次,
从此再也不敢转回头;
因为他知道有一个魔鬼,
紧紧追随在他的身后。
But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made:
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.
“但接着吹来一阵微风,
但什么也没有被它吹动:
它没在海上留下任何痕迹,
既无涟漪,也无深色的水纹。
It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring--
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.
“它只吹拂着我的脸和头发,
它轻柔如草原上的春风——
它虽和恐惧交织在一起,
却又像在对我表示欢迎。
Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too:
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze--
On me alone it blew.
“船儿飞快地、飞快地航行,
却又十分平静安稳;
微风轻轻地、轻轻地吹拂——
却只吹拂着我一人。
And the ancient Mariner beholdeth his native country.
Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed
The light-house top I see?
Is this the hill? is this the kirk?
Is this mine own countree?
“呵!欢乐的梦!莫非是
那灯塔又在远处出现?
这是那座山?这是那教堂?
莫非我又重返可爱的家园?
We drifted o'er the harbour-bar,
And I with sobs did pray--
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.
“船儿绕进港口的浅湾,
我一边祷告一边啜泣——
‘上帝呵!让我醒来吧,
或让我在此长眠不起。’
The harbour-bay was clear as glass,
So smoothly it was strewn!
And on the bay the moonlight lay,
And the shadow of the Moon.
“船儿平稳地驶入港口,
港内的海水清澈如镜!
水面上映着明媚的月光,
也映出月亮自己的倒影。
[Additional stanzas, dropped after the first edition.]
The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,
That stands above the rock:
The moonlight steeped in silentness
The steady weathercock.
“山崖在闪耀,还有那
矗立在山崖上的教堂;
月色如水,高高的风标
在寂静中沐浴着月光。
The angelic spirits leave the dead bodies,
And the bay was white with silent light,
Till rising from the same,
Full many shapes, that shadows were,
In crimson colours came.
“港湾里是一片银白世界,
突然间出现点点红光,
最初恍惚是赤色的阴影,
后来渐渐升到水面之上。
And appear in their own forms of light.
A little distance from the prow
Those crimson shadows were:
I turned my eyes upon the deck--
Oh, Christ! what saw I there!
“赤色的阴影越飘越近,
飘到船头不远的地方,
我举目再向甲板望去——
上帝呵!那是何等景象!
Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,
And, by the holy rood!
A man all light, a seraph-man,
On every corse there stood.
“纵横的尸体仍僵直不动,
但我凭着圣十字架起誓!
我看见每一具尸体旁,
站着一个发光的天使。
This seraph-band, each waved his hand:
It was a heavenly sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;
“每个天使都在举手相招,
那景象只有天国才能见到!
每个天使发出一片光亮,
仿佛在向岸上打着信号:
This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
No voice did they impart--
No voice; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart.
“每个天使都在举手相招,
却默无一言,一片静悄悄,
但这静默打动了我的心扉,
好似仙乐一般令人倾倒。
But soon I heard the dash of oars,
I heard the Pilot's cheer;
My head was turned perforce away
And I saw a boat appear.
“但很快就传来桨声欸乃,
还有领港员欢快的呼叫;
我不由自主地转过头去,
见一叶小舟在水面飘摇。
[Additional stanza, dropped after the first edition.]
The Pilot and the Pilot's boy,
I heard them coming fast:
Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.
“那领港员和他的孩子,
正驾着小舟向我们靠近:
上帝呵!尽管船上尸体纵横,
也抑制不住我喜悦的心情。
I saw a third--I heard his voice:
It is the Hermit good!
He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.
He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away
The Albatross's blood.
“我见小舟上还有一人,
我听出那是隐士的声音!
他口中高唱着一支圣歌,
那歌曲是他在林中编成。
他将赦免我有罪的灵魂,
为我把海鸟的污迹洗净。
PART VII 第七章
The Hermit of the Wood,
This Hermit good lives in that wood
Which slopes down to the sea.
How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
He loves to talk with marineres
That come from a far countree.
“那隐士终日居住在林中,
树林沿着山坡伸向海边。
当水手们从异邦归来,
他爱与他们会面交谈。
He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve--
He hath a cushion plump:
It is the moss that wholly hides
The rotted old oak-stump.
“他每天都要祈祷三次——
他有一个厚厚的跪垫:
那是一棵橡树的树桩,
上面覆盖着厚厚的苔藓。
The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk,
'Why, this is strange, I trow!
Where are those lights so many and fair,
That signal made but now?'
“小舟划近时我听见谈话声,
‘怎么回事,这可真希奇!
那些美丽的亮光哪儿去了!
刚才的信号又在哪里?’
Approacheth the ship with wonder.
'Strange, by my faith!' the Hermit said--
'And they answered not our cheer!
The planks looked warped! and see those sails,
How thin they are and sere!
“‘真奇怪!’隐士也这么说——
‘他们不回答我们的呼唤!
你看那船板已翘曲变形!
那船帆也已破烂不堪!
I never saw aught like to them,
Unless perchance it were
Brown skeletons of leaves that lag
My forest-brook along;
When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
That eats the she-wolf's young.'
“‘就像一片片枯黄的残叶,
在我林中的溪水上漂流:
当常春藤已盖满了白雪,
当母狼正吞噬着狼仔,
猫头鹰嗥叫在积雪的枝头。’
'Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look--
(The Pilot made reply)
I am a-feared'--`Push on, push on!'
Said the Hermit cheerily.
“‘上帝呵!它像魔鬼般可怕——
(领港员战战兢兢地回答)
我害怕’——‘划吧!划吧!’
隐士的声音却毫无惧怕。
The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirred;
The boat came close beneath the ship,
And straight a sound was heard.
“当小舟靠近我们的航船,
我默不作声一动不动,
当它在下面向大船靠拢,
立即听到一种奇异的怪声。
The ship suddenly sinketh. Under the water it rumbled on,
Still louder and more dread:
It reached the ship, it split the bay;
The ship went down like lead.
“它从水底下隆隆而来,
越来越响,越来越吓人:
当它劈开海水触到船上,
大船顷刻如铅块下沉。
The ancient Mariner is saved in the Pilot's boat.
Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
Which sky and ocean smote,
Like one that hath been seven days drowned
My body lay afloat;
But swift as dreams, myself I found
Within the Pilot's boat.
“那巨大而又恐怖的声音,
震撼着海洋和天空,
我在巨声中失去了知觉,
象一具溺尸漂浮在水中;
但我随即已躺在小舟里,
迅速的变换犹如梦境。
Upon the whirl, where sank the ship,
The boat spun round and round;
And all was still, save that the hill
Was telling of the sound.
“沉船的水面上卷起漩涡,
小舟在上面不停地打转;
四周一片寂静,只有回声
仍荡漾在岸边的群山。
I moved my lips--the Pilot shrieked
And fell down in a fit;
The holy Hermit raised his eyes,
And prayed where he did sit.
“我刚张嘴——领港员便吓得
一声尖叫,在船上昏倒;
那隐士也两眼仰望上苍,
坐在原地连连祷告。
I took the oars: the Pilot's boy,
Who now doth crazy go,
Laughed loud and long, and all the while
His eyes went to and fro.
`Ha! ha!' quoth he, `full plain I see,
The Devil knows how to row.'
“我拿起船桨,领港员的孩子
这时已吓得神经异常,
他发出阵阵狂笑,两眼
不停地转动,充满惊惶。
“‘哈哈!我今天亲眼目睹,
原来魔鬼也会划船使桨。’
And now, all in my own countree,
I stood on the firm land!
The Hermit stepped forth from the boat,
And scarcely he could stand.
“呵,我终于又回到了故乡!
双足站在坚实的大地上!
隐士也慢慢地下了船,
站都站不稳两腿直摇晃。
The ancient Mariner earnestly entreateth the Hermit to shrieve him; and the penance
of life falls on him.
'O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!'
The Hermit crossed his brow.
'Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee say--
What manner of man art thou?'
“‘圣者,赦免我吧!赦免我!’
隐士举手合十在他的额顶。
‘你快说吧,你快说——
你究竟是鬼还是人?’
Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale;
And then it left me free.
“顿时剧烈难耐的痛苦,
撕裂着我的整个身心,
它迫使我讲述我的故事,
讲完后才能自由轻松。
And ever and anon through out his future life an agony constraineth him to travel
from land to land;
Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns:
And till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.
“从此后这无比的痛苦,
时时出现,将我折磨:
我的心在剧痛中燃烧,
直到我把这故事诉说。
I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that his face I see,
I know the man that must hear me:
To him my tale I teach.
“从此后我如黑夜般流浪,
神奇的力量迫使我开腔;
见到人我一眼便能断定,
谁该是我讲故事的对象。
What loud uproar bursts from that door!
The wedding-guests are there:
But in the garden-bower the bride
And bride-maids singing are:
And hark the little vesper bell,
Which biddeth me to prayer!
“新郎家中传来一片喧闹!
喜气洋洋,宴客盈门,
同时从那花园的树荫里,
响起新娘和傧相的歌声:
告诉我已是祷告的时辰!
O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been
Alone on a wide wide sea:
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seeméd there to be.
“呵喜宴的嘉宾!这灵魂
曾独自彷徨在辽阔的大海:
那是一片死寂,就仿佛
连上帝也已不再存在。
O sweeter than the marriage-feast,
'Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the kirk
With a goodly company!--
“当我能和众人一起,
满怀虔诚地走向教堂,
我就感到无比的幸福,
庆婚喜宴怎能比得上!——
To walk together to the kirk,
And all together pray,
While each to his great Father bends,
Old men, and babes, and loving friends
And youths and maidens gay!
“大家一起去教堂祈祷,
在天父面前低头思量,
不分老幼或亲爱的友人,
还是快乐的青年和姑娘!
And to teach, by his own example, love and reverence to all things that God made and
loveth.
Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
“再见吧!喜宴的嘉宾!
但临别前听我进一良言!
只有兼爱人类和鸟兽的人,
他的祈祷才能灵验。
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
“谁爱得最深谁祈祷得最好,
万物都既伟大而又渺小!
因为上帝他爱我们大家,
也正是他把我们创造。”
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.
老水手目光奕奕须发苍苍,
他讲完故事便独自前往:
赴宴的客人也转过身子,
不去新郎家而走向他方。
He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.
他仿佛受到巨大的震惊,
失去了知觉,神情迷惘:
但翌晨他变得严肃深沉,
从此后完全改变了模样。
《古舟子咏》是柯勒律治最具代表性的作品。作为浪漫主义时期伟大的诗人之一,柯勒律治的作品并不多,《古舟子咏》是柯勒律治最伟大的诗篇。这些诗表现了诗人奇特的想象力如何驰骋在遥远的海洋和中古的月下城堡之间,立意新颖,感情激荡,想象奇特,语言瑰丽,音律优美,代表了浪漫主义的神秘,奇幻的一面,在技巧上则发掘了诗的音乐美。他还写有一些伤感,阴郁的抒情短诗,表现了诗人不幸的生活遭遇和抑郁的心情。他写有大量的文学、哲学,神学论著,论述精辟,见解独到,在英国文学史上占有重要地位。
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 古舟子咏
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 塞缪尔•T•柯勒律治
译者未知
PART I 第一章
他是一个年迈的水手,
从三个行人中他拦住一人,
“凭你的白须和闪亮的眼睛,
请问你为何阻拦我的路程?
“新郎家的大门已经敞开,
而我是他的密友良朋,
宾客已到齐,宴席已摆好,
远远能听到笑语喧闹。”
他枯瘦的手把行人抓住,
喃喃言道:”曾有一艘船。”
“走开,撒手,你这老疯子!”
他随即放手不再纠缠。
但他炯炯的目光将行人摄住——
使赴宴的客人停步不前,
像三岁的孩子听他讲述,
老水手实现了他的意愿。
赴宴的客人坐在石头上,
不由自主地听他把故事讲:
就这样老水手继续往下说,
两眼闪着奇异的光芒。
“船在欢呼声中驶出海港,
乘着落潮我们愉快出航,
驶过教堂,驶过山岗,
最后连灯塔也消失在远方。
“只见太阳从左边升起,
从那万顷碧波的汪洋里!
它终日在天空辉煌照耀,
然后从右边落进大海里。
“它每天升得越来越高,
正午时直射桅杆的顶极——”
赴宴的客人捶打着胸膛,
当听到巴松管嘹亮的乐曲。
这时新娘已跨进大门,
她如鲜红的玫瑰一样漂亮;
行吟诗人走在她前面,
摇头摆尾快乐地歌唱。
赴宴的客人捶打着胸膛,
但不由自主地听他把故事讲;
就这样老水手继续往下说,
两眼闪烁着奇异的光芒。
“这时大海上刮起了风暴,
它来势凶猛更叫人胆寒;
它张开飞翅追击着船只,
不停地把我们向南驱赶。
“桅杆弓着身,船头淌着水,
像有人在背后追打叫喊,
却总是躲不开敌人的影子,
只好低着头任其摧残,
船儿在疾驶,狂风在呼啸,
我们一个劲儿往南逃窜。
“接着出现了浓雾和冰雪,
天气奇寒,冻彻骨髓;
如樯的冰山从船旁漂过,
晶莹碧绿,色如翡翠。
“冰山射出惨淡的光芒,
在飘流的云雾中若明若灭:
四周既无人迹也无鸟兽——
只有一望无际的冰雪。
“这儿是冰雪,那儿是冰雪,
到处都是冰雪茫茫;
冰雪在怒吼,冰雪在咆哮,
像人昏厥时听到隆隆巨响!
“终于飞来了一头信天翁,
它穿过海上弥漫的云雾,
仿佛它也是一个基督徒,
我们以上帝的名义向它欢呼。
“它吃着丛未吃过的食物,
又绕着船儿盘旋飞舞。
坚冰霹雳一声突然裂开,
舵手把我们引上了新途!
“南来的好风在船后吹送;
船旁紧跟着那头信天翁,
每天为了食物或玩耍,
水手们一招呼它就飞进船中!
“它在桅索上栖息了九夜;
无论是雾夜或满天阴云:
而一轮皎月透过白雾,
迷离闪烁,朦朦胧胧。”
“上帝保佑你吧,老水手!
别让魔鬼把你缠住身!——
你怎么啦?”——”是我用弓箭,
射死了那头信天翁。”
PART II 第二章
“现在太阳从右边升起,
从那万顷碧波的汪洋里;
但它终日被云雾缭绕,
然后从左边落进大海里。
“南来的好风仍在船后吹送,
但再不见那可爱的信天翁,
也不再为了食物或玩耍,
水手们一招呼就飞进船中!
“我干了一件可怕的事情,
它使全船的人遭到了不幸;
他们都说我射死了那头鸟,
正是它带来了海上的和风。
他们咒骂我,这个恶棍,
他不该杀死那头信天翁!
“当艳阳高照不再又暗又红,
而像上帝头上灿烂的光轮,
大家又改口说我做得对,
应该射死那带来迷雾的信天翁。
“惠风吹拂,白浪飞溅,
船儿轻快地破浪向前;
我们是这里的第一批来客,
闯进这一片沉寂的海面。
“风全停了,帆也落了,
四周的景象好不凄凉;
只为打破海上的沉寂,
我们才偶尔开口把话讲。
“正午血红的太阳,高悬在
灼热的铜黄色的天上,
正好直射着桅杆的尖顶,
大小不过像一个月亮。
“过了一天,又是一天,
我们停滞在海上无法动弹;
就像一幅画中的航船,
停在一幅画中的海面。
“水呵水,到处都是水,
船上的甲板却在干涸;
水呵水,到处都是水,
却没有一滴能解我焦渴。
“大海本身在腐烂,呵上帝!
这景象实在令人心悸!
一些长着腿的粘滑的东西,
在粘滑的海面上爬来爬去。
“到了夜晚死火出现在海上,
在我们四周旋舞飞扬;
而海水好似女巫的毒油,
燃着青、白碧绿的幽光。
“有人说他在睡梦中看见了
那给我们带来灾难的精灵;
他来自那冰封雾锁的地方,
在九噚的水下紧紧相跟。
“我们滴水不进极度干渴,
连舌根也好象已经枯萎;
我们说不出话发不出声,
整个咽喉像塞满了烟灰。
“呵!天哪!这全船老小
都向我射来凶恶的目光!
他们摘下我戴的十字架,
而把死鸟挂在我脖子上。
PART III 第三章
“焦躁的时光呵,人人喉焦
舌干,两眼如蒙上一层釉,
焦躁的时光呵!焦躁的时光!
焦躁的眼睛如蒙上一层釉!
当我向西远眺,突然看见
有个东西在空中飘游。
“起初只是个小小的斑点,
后来又仿佛是一团云雾:
它不断向前移动,终于
像是个物体看得很清楚。
“一个斑点,一团雾,一个物体!
它不断移动越飘越近,
它仿佛在躲避着水妖,
左右打转,盘旋而进。
“嘴唇焦黑,喉咙干涸,
我们既不能笑也不能喊;
我咬破手臂吮了几口血,
才喊出声:‘一艘船!一艘船!’
“嘴唇焦黑,喉咙干涸,
他们张大着嘴听我叫喊:
老天爷,他们都咧嘴笑了,
一个个突然大口吸气,
好象在痛饮救命的甘泉。
“‘看!看!(我喊着)它不再打转!
她将来这里消灾化难,
海上既没刮风也没涨潮,
她却昂举船首破浪而前!’
“西边的海波似一片火焰;
此时白昼将尽已近夜晚:
一轮巨大的灿烂的夕阳,
将坠未坠在西方的海面;
突然,那个奇怪的物体,
闯进了太阳和我们之间。
“太阳随即蒙上条条暗影,
(愿天国之母赐我们怜悯!)
他仿佛隔着狱栅向外张望,
露出巨大的燃烧的面容。
“呵!(我想,心儿怦怦乱跳)
她疾驶如飞越来越近!
那在日光中闪烁的可是帆蓬,
它们如游丝一般飘摇不定?
“那如狱栅的可是船的腰骨,
太阳正从栅后向外窥探?
莫非船上只有那个妖妇?
莫非死亡就是她的同伴?
“她嘴唇腥红,姿色妖艳,
长长的秀发如金子般耀眼:
皮肤却似麻风病人般苍白,
她是一个死中之生的梦魇,
使人血液凝冻,毛骨悚然。
“那无人的荒船向我们靠拢,
死亡与生命在掷骰争胜;
‘赌局已定,我赢啦!’
她叫着,连吹口哨三声。
“夕阳落海,群星奔涌:
转眼间黑夜已经降临;
那魔船仍在海上疾驶,
如飞箭离弦猎猎可闻。
“我们边听边斜眼偷看,
恐惧在心中吸吮着血液,
就像在把酒杯慢慢啜干!
星辰无光,夜色漆黑,
灯光映着舵手苍白的脸;
浓重的露水从帆上滴落——
直至一钩新月升起在天边,
新月下面挂着一颗星,
在夜空中闪着明亮的光焰。
“同伴们来不及呻吟叹息,
就在星月下一个个倒毙,
脸上带着剧烈的痛苦,
眼中含着诅咒和敌意。
“算起来总共有三百人,
(但我没听到呻吟或叹息)
随着一连串扑通之声,
甲板上倒下一具具的尸体。
“他们的灵魂从体内飞出,——
飞向幸福还是飞向痛苦?
当每个灵魂经过我身旁,
飕飕作响一如我的弓弩!”
PART IV 第四章
“我怕你,年迈的水手!
我怕你这双枯瘦的手!
你又瘦又高,脸色萎黄,
就像退潮后海边的沙丘。
“我怕你和你灼灼的目光,
你枯瘦的手多么萎黄,”——
“不用怕我,婚礼的贵宾!
我并未在船上倒毙身亡。
“孤独呵孤独,我独自一人
在那辽阔无际的海面!
没有一位神明曾对我
心灵的痛苦表示哀怜。
“多少美好的人遽然离世,
直挺挺躺在甲板上面:
而万千浊物却仍然活着,
还有我也在苟延残喘。
“我望了一眼腐烂的大海,
赶紧把目光从那里移开;
我望了一眼腐烂的甲板,
死去的同伴们七倒八歪。
“我仰望苍天,想做祷告;
但未等祷词从嘴中说出,
便听得一声邪恶的低语,
顿使我的心呵干似尘土。
“我闭上双眼,闭得很紧很紧,
而眼球却象脉博在跳动;
天空和大海,大海和天空,
沉重地压着我疲倦的眼睛。
“死者的躯体布满了冷汗,
却既不腐烂也不发臭:
他们临死时看我的目光,
永不消失,仍在眼中停留。
“孤儿的诅咒能使灵魂
从天上一直落入地狱;
但死人眼中的诅咒呵,
比孤儿的更令人恐惧!
七天七夜我面对那诅咒,
我想死却又不能死去。
“月亮慢慢地升上天空,
她不断上升一刻不停:
她悄悄地,悄悄地上升,
身旁伴有一两颗星星——
“她洒下清光如四月的寒霜,
仿佛在嘲弄这酷热的海洋;
除了船身巨大的阴影,
着魔的海水到处在燃烧,
到处是一片红色的火光。
“在那船身的阴影之外,
水蛇和白光游动在海面:
每当它们竖起蛇身时,
水泡抖落如霜花飞溅。
在那航船的阴影之内,
蛇身的颜色是多么浓艳:
蔚蓝、碧绿、晶黑;每过一处,
留下一簇金色的火焰。
“呵幸福的生命!它们的
美丽没有语言能够形容,
一阵热爱涌上我的心头,
我在心中暗暗祝福它们!
准是神明开始对我怜宥,
我在心中暗暗祝福它们。
“就在这时我又能祈祷了
而挂在我颈上的信天翁,
自己掉了下来,并象
沉重的铅块落入水中。
PART V 第五章
“呵睡眠!它是多么香甜,
世人有谁不将它爱宠!
我要将圣母玛利亚赞颂!
是她从天上送来酣眠,
令它悄悄潜入我的双眼。
甲板上原放着几只水桶,
桶内空空早已废弃无用,
我梦见桶内盛满了露水;
当我醒来时却躺在水中。
“我嘴唇湿润,喉咙清凉,
我全身的衣服都已湿透;
我定在梦中把雨水喝了够,
我的身体仍在把甘霖吸收。
“当我走动时四肢如云:
我的身体是那样轻盈——
仿佛我已在睡梦中死去,
已成为一个游荡的精灵。
“接着便听到狂风怒吼:
但风并不向船身靠近,
只听风声摇撼着船帆,
褴褛的帆蓬飘摇不定。
“天空骤然间获得了生命!
无数道火光如旗帜飘动;
暗淡的群星在火光间舞蹈,
迷离闪烁,时显时隐。
“狂风的吼声越来越高,
船蓬如蓑草发出尖啸;
雨水从乌云中倾盆而下;
月亮已被乌云所遮绕。
“浓密的乌云被霍然劈开,
但月亮仍被乌云遮绕:
像瀑布从悬崖飞泻而下,
明亮的闪电直落长空,
如大河陡立把雨水倾倒。
“狂风从未吹到我们船上,
但船儿却开始向前航行!
在闪电和月光下面,
死人一齐发出了呻吟。
“随着呻吟他们站了起来,
既不说话也不眨动眼睛;
眼看死人突然间挺立,
哪怕梦中也难见这奇景。
“舵手在掌舵,船儿在航行;
可船上却没有一丝风;
水手们又象往日一般,
一齐操作着船上的缆绳:
他们的动作象机械一样——
仿佛一群可怕的幽灵。
“在我身边是我侄儿的尸体,
他与我膝对膝站在一起:
他与我同挽一根缆绳,
但对我始终默默无语。”
“我怕你,年迈的水手!”
“安静点,婚礼的贵宾!
并非是怨魂重返躯体,
而是一群天使借尸显灵。
“天亮时他们便歇手不干,
纷纷围绕在桅樯旁边,
嘴里唱出悠扬的歌声,
这歌声在海上越飞越远。
“它先在四周不停地飞旋,
刹那间却已直上青天;
随后又缓缓降落到海上,
或齐声合唱,或一曲婉转。
“有时像云雀高歌天廷;
有时像百鸟齐唱争鸣,
仿佛整个大海和天空呵,
都充满了它们美妙的歌声!
“有时乐声如万弦俱发,
有时却又像一笛独奏;
有时如仙乐在海上回荡,
使九天谛听这乐声悠悠。
“乐声停了;但直到正午,
船帆仍发出悦耳的响声,
那声音宛如隐秘的溪水,
流淌在六月茂密的树丛,
它向着沉沉酣睡的树林,
整夜低吟,泠泠有声。
“直到正午一切平安无事,
但海上却仍无一丝风:
船儿缓慢平稳地行驶,
若有神力在水下推动。
“在船下九寻深的水里,
从那雪雾弥漫的地方,
正是他一路推波助澜,
负舟潜游护佑它远航,
到正午时船帆哑寂无声,
船儿又重新搁浅在海上。
“正午时骄阳直射桅顶,
将船儿在海上牢牢固定;
但未过片刻她又动了起来,
时前时后不安地摆动。
“然后像一匹脱缰的奔马,
船身突然向前一跃:
血液猛地涌入我脑中,
我一阵晕眩在船上摔倒。
“我在昏迷中躺了多久,
我说不清,也不知道;
当我苏醒时,却分明听见
两个声音在耳边缭绕。
“‘告诉我,凭基督的名义,’
一个声音说,‘是不是这个人,
用他残酷的弓弩,一箭
射杀了无辜的信天翁?
“‘在那冰封雾裹的地方,
居住着一个威严的神灵,
他爱这海鸟,这鸟爱此人,
却不料被他一箭丧生。’
“这时响起了另一个声音,
这声音似甘露甜美动听:
‘他已为自己的罪行忏悔,
他今后仍将无穷地悔恨。’
PART VI 第六章
FIRST VOICE 第一个声音
“‘但请告诉我,请告诉我,
用你甜美动听的声音——
为何那船儿能疾驶如飞,
当茫茫大海风平浪静?’
SECOND VOICE 第二个声音
“‘像奴仆屏息面对着主人,
海上一片沉寂,没有一丝风;
他睁着大大的闪烁的眼睛,
仰望明月,默默无声——
“他在请求月亮给他指示;
因潮涨潮落全由她控制。
看,兄弟,看!她向他
俯视的目光是多么仁慈。’
FIRST VOICE 第一个声音
“‘但既不刮风,也不见波浪,
为何那船能疾驶在海上?’
SECOND VOICE 第二个声音
“‘前面的气流已被切断,
后面的气流也已凝固。
飞吧,兄弟,快向高处飞!
我们再不能耽搁延误:
因为这船将缓缓行驶,
当那水手从昏迷中复苏。
“我醒来,船儿继续航行,
宛如在惠风吹拂的天气:
夜色寂寥,明月当空;
死去的人齐在船上站立。
“死去的人齐在船上站立,
仿佛这里是尸体存放所:
他们冷酷的眼睛都瞪着我,
映着皎洁的月光在闪烁。
“他们临死前的痛苦和诅咒
一直弥留在他们的脸上:
我既不能躲避他们的眼睛,
也不能抬眼祷告上苍。
“最后魔法终于被解除,
我又看到蔚蓝的海洋,
我心怀余悸向远处望去,
两眼昏花只见一片苍茫。
“就像一个孤独的旅人,
心惊胆战穿过野径荒丘,
他偷偷回首望了一次,
从此再也不敢转回头;
因为他知道有一个魔鬼,
紧紧追随在他的身后。
“但接着吹来一阵微风,
但什么也没有被它吹动:
它没在海上留下任何痕迹,
既无涟漪,也无深色的水纹。
“它只吹拂着我的脸和头发,
它轻柔如草原上的春风——
它虽和恐惧交织在一起,
却又像在对我表示欢迎。
“船儿飞快地、飞快地航行,
却又十分平静安稳;
微风轻轻地、轻轻地吹拂——
却只吹拂着我一人。
“呵!欢乐的梦!莫非是
那灯塔又在远处出现?
这是那座山?这是那教堂?
莫非我又重返可爱的家园?
“船儿绕进港口的浅湾,
我一边祷告一边啜泣——
‘上帝呵!让我醒来吧,
或让我在此长眠不起。’
“船儿平稳地驶入港口,
港内的海水清澈如镜!
水面上映着明媚的月光,
也映出月亮自己的倒影。
“山崖在闪耀,还有那
矗立在山崖上的教堂;
月色如水,高高的风标
在寂静中沐浴着月光。
“港湾里是一片银白世界,
突然间出现点点红光,
最初恍惚是赤色的阴影,
后来渐渐升到水面之上。
“赤色的阴影越飘越近,
飘到船头不远的地方,
我举目再向甲板望去——
上帝呵!那是何等景象!
“纵横的尸体仍僵直不动,
但我凭着圣十字架起誓!
我看见每一具尸体旁,
站着一个发光的天使。
“每个天使都在举手相招,
那景象只有天国才能见到!
每个天使发出一片光亮,
仿佛在向岸上打着信号:
“每个天使都在举手相招,
却默无一言,一片静悄悄,
但这静默打动了我的心扉,
好似仙乐一般令人倾倒。
“但很快就传来桨声欸乃,
还有领港员欢快的呼叫;
我不由自主地转过头去,
见一叶小舟在水面飘摇。
“那领港员和他的孩子,
正驾着小舟向我们靠近:
上帝呵!尽管船上尸体纵横,
也抑制不住我喜悦的心情。
“我见小舟上还有一人,
我听出那是隐士的声音!
他口中高唱着一支圣歌,
那歌曲是他在林中编成。
他将赦免我有罪的灵魂,
为我把海鸟的污迹洗净。
PART VII 第七章
“那隐士终日居住在林中,
树林沿着山坡伸向海边。
当水手们从异邦归来,
他爱与他们会面交谈。
“他每天都要祈祷三次——
他有一个厚厚的跪垫:
那是一棵橡树的树桩,
上面覆盖着厚厚的苔藓。
“小舟划近时我听见谈话声,
‘怎么回事,这可真希奇!
那些美丽的亮光哪儿去了!
刚才的信号又在哪里?’
“‘真奇怪!’隐士也这么说——
‘他们不回答我们的呼唤!
你看那船板已翘曲变形!
那船帆也已破烂不堪!
“‘就像一片片枯黄的残叶,
在我林中的溪水上漂流:
当常春藤已盖满了白雪,
当母狼正吞噬着狼仔,
猫头鹰嗥叫在积雪的枝头。’
“‘上帝呵!它像魔鬼般可怕——
(领港员战战兢兢地回答)
我害怕’——‘划吧!划吧!’
隐士的声音却毫无惧怕。
“当小舟靠近我们的航船,
我默不作声一动不动,
当它在下面向大船靠拢,
立即听到一种奇异的怪声。
“它从水底下隆隆而来,
越来越响,越来越吓人:
当它劈开海水触到船上,
大船顷刻如铅块下沉。
“那巨大而又恐怖的声音,
震撼着海洋和天空,
我在巨声中失去了知觉,
象一具溺尸漂浮在水中;
但我随即已躺在小舟里,
迅速的变换犹如梦境。
“沉船的水面上卷起漩涡,
小舟在上面不停地打转;
四周一片寂静,只有回声
仍荡漾在岸边的群山。
“我刚张嘴——领港员便吓得
一声尖叫,在船上昏倒;
那隐士也两眼仰望上苍,
坐在原地连连祷告。
“我拿起船桨,领港员的孩子
这时已吓得神经异常,
他发出阵阵狂笑,两眼
不停地转动,充满惊惶。
“‘哈哈!我今天亲眼目睹,
原来魔鬼也会划船使桨。’
“呵,我终于又回到了故乡!
双足站在坚实的大地上!
隐士也慢慢地下了船,
站都站不稳两腿直摇晃。
“‘圣者,赦免我吧!赦免我!’
隐士举手合十在他的额顶。
‘你快说吧,你快说——
你究竟是鬼还是人?’
“顿时剧烈难耐的痛苦,
撕裂着我的整个身心,
它迫使我讲述我的故事,
讲完后才能自由轻松。
“从此后这无比的痛苦,
时时出现,将我折磨:
我的心在剧痛中燃烧,
直到我把这故事诉说。
“从此后我如黑夜般流浪,
神奇的力量迫使我开腔;
见到人我一眼便能断定,
谁该是我讲故事的对象。
“新郎家中传来一片喧闹!
喜气洋洋,宴客盈门,
同时从那花园的树荫里,
响起新娘和傧相的歌声:
告诉我已是祷告的时辰!
“呵喜宴的嘉宾!这灵魂
曾独自彷徨在辽阔的大海:
那是一片死寂,就仿佛
连上帝也已不再存在。
“当我能和众人一起,
满怀虔诚地走向教堂,
我就感到无比的幸福,
庆婚喜宴怎能比得上!——
“大家一起去教堂祈祷,
在天父面前低头思量,
不分老幼或亲爱的友人,
还是快乐的青年和姑娘!
“再见吧!喜宴的嘉宾!
但临别前听我进一良言!
只有兼爱人类和鸟兽的人,
他的祈祷才能灵验。
“谁爱得最深谁祈祷得最好,
万物都既伟大而又渺小!
因为上帝他爱我们大家,
也正是他把我们创造。”
老水手目光奕奕须发苍苍,
他讲完故事便独自前往:
赴宴的客人也转过身子,
不去新郎家而走向他方。
他仿佛受到巨大的震惊,
失去了知觉,神情迷惘:
但翌晨他变得严肃深沉,
从此后完全改变了模样。
An ancient Mariner meeteth three Gallants bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth
one.
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long 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:
May'st hear the merry din.'
He holds him with his skinny hand,
'There was a ship,' quoth he.
'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!'
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
The Wedding-Guest is spell-bound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and
constrained to hear his tale. He holds him with his glittering eye--
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.
The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
He cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather,
till it reached the Line.
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,
For he heard the loud bassoon.
The Wedding-Guest heareth the bridal music; but the Mariner continueth his tale.
The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.
The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
The ship driven by a storm toward the south pole.
'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,
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
The southward aye we fled.
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
The land of ice, and of fearful sounds where no living thing was to be seen.
And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--
The ice was all between.
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!
Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was
received with great joy and hospitality.
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.
It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!
And lo! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it
returned northward through fog and floating ice.
And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo!
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'
The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.
'God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!--
Why look'st thou so?'--With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
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.
And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,
Nor any day for food or play
Came to the mariners' hollo!
His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner, for killing the bird of good luck.
And I had done an hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!
But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves
accomplices in the crime.
Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
The glorious Sun uprist:
Then all averred, I had killed the bird
That brought the fog and mist.
'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
That bring the fog and mist.
The fair breeze continues; the ship enters the Pacific Ocean, and sails northward,
even till it reaches the Line.
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
The ship hath been suddenly becalmed.
Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
'Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!
All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
And the Albatross begins to be avenged.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.
About, about, in reel and rout
The death-fires danced at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white.
A Spirit had followed them; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither
departed souls nor angels; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the
Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted. They are very
numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more.
And some in dreams assuréd were
Of the Spirit that plagued us so;
Nine fathom deep he had followed us
From the land of mist and snow.
And every tongue, through utter drought,
Was withered at the root;
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.
The shipmates, in their sore distress, would fain throw the whole guilt on the ancient
Mariner: in sign whereof they hang the dead sea-bird round his neck.
Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
There passed a weary time. Each throat
Was parched, and glazed each eye.
A weary time! a weary time!
How glazed each weary eye,
When looking westward, I beheld
A something in the sky.
The ancient Mariner beholdeth a sign in the element afar off.
At first it seemed a little speck,
And then it seemed a mist;
It moved and moved, and took at last
A certain shape, I wist.
A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared and neared:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tacked and veered.
At its nearer approach, it seemeth him to be a ship; and at a dear ransom he freeth
his speech from the bonds of thirst.
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail!
A flash of joy;
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
Agape they heard me call:
Gramercy! they for joy did grin,
And all at once their breath drew in,
As they were drinking all.
And horror follows. For can it be a ship that comes onward without wind or tide?
See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
Hither to work us weal;
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!
The western wave was all a-flame.
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.
It seemeth him but the skeleton of a ship.
And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,
(Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
As if through a dungeon-grate he peered
With broad and burning face.
And its ribs are seen as bars on the face of the setting Sun.
Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
How fast she nears and nears!
Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
Like restless gossameres?
The Spectre-Woman and her Death-mate, and no other on board the skeleton ship.
And those her ribs through which the Sun
Did peer, as through a grate?
And is that Woman all her crew?
Is that a DEATH? and are there two?
Is DEATH that woman's mate?
[first version of this stanza through the end of Part III]
Like vessel, like crew!
Her lips were red, her looks were free,
Her locks were yellow as gold:
Her skin was as white as leprosy,
The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold.
Death and Life-in-Death have diced for the ship's crew, and she (the latter) winneth
the ancient Mariner.
The naked hulk alongside came,
And the twain were casting dice;
`The game is done! I've won! I've won!'
Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
No twilight within the courts of the Sun.
The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:
At one stride comes the dark;
With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea,
Off shot the spectre-bark.
At the rising of the Moon,
We listened and looked sideways up!
Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
My life-blood seemed to sip!
The stars were dim, and thick the night,
The steerman's face by his lamp gleamed white;
From the sails the dew did drip--
Till clomb above the eastern bar
The hornéd Moon, with one bright star
Within the nether tip.
One after another,
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.
His shipmates drop down dead.
Four times fifty living men,
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.
But Life-in-Death begins her work on the ancient Mariner.
The souls did from their bodies fly,--
They fled to bliss or woe!
And every soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my cross-bow!
The Wedding-Guest feareth that a Spirit is talking to him;
'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand.
(Coleridge's note on above stanza)
I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
And thy skinny hand, so brown.'--
Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!
This body dropt not down.
But the ancient Mariner assureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his
horrible penance.
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.
He despiseth the creatures of the calm,
The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
And envieth that they should live, and so many lie dead.
I looked upon the rotting sea,
And drew my eyes away;
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.
I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;
But or ever a prayer had gusht,
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.
I closed my lids, and kept them close,
And the balls like pulses beat;
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
Lay like a load on my weary eye,
And the dead were at my feet.
But the curse liveth for him in the eye of the dead men.
The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
Nor rot nor reek did they:
The look with which they looked on me
Had never passed away.
An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.
In his loneliness and fixedness he yearneth towards the journeying Moon, and the stars that still sojourn, yet still move onward; and every where the blue sky belongs to
them, and is their appointed rest, and their native country and their own natural homes, which they enter unannounced, as lords that are certainly expected and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival.
The moving Moon went up the sky,
And no where did abide:
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside--
Her beams bemocked the sultry main,
Like April hoar-frost spread;
But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
The charméd water burnt alway
A still and awful red.
By the light of the Moon he beholdeth God's creatures of the great calm.
Beyond the shadow of the ship,
I watched the water-snakes:
They moved in tracks of shining white,
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.
Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.
Their beauty and their happiness.
He blesseth them in his heart.
O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.
The spell begins to break.
The self-same moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole!
To Mary Queen the praise be given!
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
That slid into my soul.
By grace of the holy Mother, the ancient Mariner is refreshed with rain.
The silly buckets on the deck,
That had so long remained,
I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
And when I awoke, it rained.
My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;
Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank.
I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
I was so light--almost
I thought that I had died in sleep,
And was a blesséd ghost.
He heareth sounds and seeth strange sights and commotions in the sky and the
element.
And soon I heard a roaring wind:
It did not come anear;
But with its sound it shook the sails,
That were so thin and sere.
The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between.
And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the sails did sigh like sedge;
And the rain poured down from one black cloud;
The Moon was at its edge.
The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
The Moon was at its side:
Like waters shot from some high crag,
The lightning fell with never a jag,
A river steep and wide.
The bodies of the ship's crew are inspired, and the ship moves on;
The loud wind never reached the ship,
Yet now the ship moved on!
Beneath the lightning and the Moon
The dead men gave a groan.
They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
It had been strange, even in a dream,
To have seen those dead men rise.
The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
Yet never a breeze up-blew;
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont to do;
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools--
We were a ghastly crew.
The body of my brother's son
Stood by me, knee to knee:
The body and I pulled at one rope,
But he said nought to me.
But not by the souls of the men, nor by dæmons of earth or middle air, but by a
blessed troop of angelic spirits, sent down by the invocation of the guardian saint.
'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!'
Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest!
'T was not those souls that fled in pain,
Which to their corses came again,
But a troop of spirits blest:
For when it dawned--they dropped their arms,
And clustered round the mast;
Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths,
And from their bodies passed.
Around, around, flew each sweet sound,
Then darted to the Sun;
Slowly the sounds came back again,
Now mixed, now one by one.
Sometimes a-dropping from the sky
I heard the sky-lark sing;
Sometimes all little birds that are,
How they seemed to fill the sea and air
With their sweet jargoning!
And now 'twas like all instruments,
Now like a lonely flute;
And now it is an angel's song,
That makes the heavens be mute.
It ceased; yet still the sails made on
A pleasant noise till noon,
A noise like of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,
That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune.
[Additional stanzas, dropped after the first edition.]
Till noon we quietly sailed on,
Yet never a breeze did breathe:
Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
Moved onward from beneath.
The lonesome Spirit from the south-pole carries on the ship as far as the Line, in
obedience to the angelic troop, but still requireth vengeance.
Under the keel nine fathom deep,
From the land of mist and snow,
The spirit slid: and it was he
That made the ship to go.
The sails at noon left off their tune,
And the ship stood still also.
The Sun, right up above the mast,
Had fixed her to the ocean:
But in a minute she 'gan stir,
With a short uneasy motion--
Backwards and forwards half her length
With a short uneasy motion.
Then like a pawing horse let go,
She made a sudden bound:
It flung the blood into my head,
And I fell down in a swound.
The Polar Spirit's fellow-dæmons, the invisible inhabitants of the element, take part in
his wrong; and two of them relate, one to the other, that penance long and heavy for
the ancient Mariner hath been accorded to the Polar Spirit, who returneth southward.
How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not to declare;
But ere my living life returned,
I heard and in my soul discerned
Two voices in the air.
'Is it he?' quoth one, `Is this the man?
By him who died on cross,
With his cruel bow he laid full low
The harmless Albatross.
The spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man
Who shot him with his bow.'
The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew:
Quoth he, `The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do.'
'But tell me, tell me! speak again,
Thy soft response renewing--
What makes that ship drive on so fast?
What is the ocean doing?'
'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.'
The Mariner hath been cast into a trance; for the angelic power causeth the vessel to
drive northward faster than human life could endure.
'But why drives on that ship so fast,
Without or wave or wind?'
'The air is cut away before,
And closes from behind.
Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high!
Or we shall be belated:
For slow and slow that ship will go,
When the Mariner's trance is abated.'
The supernatural motion is retarded; the Mariner awakes, and his penance begins
anew.
I woke, and we were sailing on
As in a gentle weather:
'Twas night, calm night, the moon was high;
The dead men stood together.
All stood together on the deck,
For a charnel-dungeon fitter:
All fixed on me their stony eyes,
That in the Moon did glitter.
The pang, the curse, with which they died,
Had never passed away:
I could not draw my eyes from theirs,
Nor turn them up to pray.
The curse is finally expiated.
And now this spell was snapt: once more
I viewed the ocean green,
And looked far forth, yet little saw
Of what had else been seen--
Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made:
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.
It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring--
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.
Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too:
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze--
On me alone it blew.
And the ancient Mariner beholdeth his native country.
Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed
The light-house top I see?
Is this the hill? is this the kirk?
Is this mine own countree?
We drifted o'er the harbour-bar,
And I with sobs did pray--
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.
The harbour-bay was clear as glass,
So smoothly it was strewn!
And on the bay the moonlight lay,
And the shadow of the Moon.
[Additional stanzas, dropped after the first edition.]
The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,
That stands above the rock:
The moonlight steeped in silentness
The steady weathercock.
The angelic spirits leave the dead bodies,
And the bay was white with silent light,
Till rising from the same,
Full many shapes, that shadows were,
In crimson colours came.
And appear in their own forms of light.
A little distance from the prow
Those crimson shadows were:
I turned my eyes upon the deck--
Oh, Christ! what saw I there!
Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,
And, by the holy rood!
A man all light, a seraph-man,
On every corse there stood.
This seraph-band, each waved his hand:
It was a heavenly sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;
This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
No voice did they impart--
No voice; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart.
But soon I heard the dash of oars,
I heard the Pilot's cheer;
My head was turned perforce away
And I saw a boat appear.
[Additional stanza, dropped after the first edition.]
The Pilot and the Pilot's boy,
I heard them coming fast:
Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.
I saw a third--I heard his voice:
It is the Hermit good!
He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.
He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away
The Albatross's blood.
The Hermit of the Wood,
This Hermit good lives in that wood
Which slopes down to the sea.
How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
He loves to talk with marineres
That come from a far countree.
He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve--
He hath a cushion plump:
It is the moss that wholly hides
The rotted old oak-stump.
The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk,
'Why, this is strange, I trow!
Where are those lights so many and fair,
That signal made but now?'
Approacheth the ship with wonder.
'Strange, by my faith!' the Hermit said--
'And they answered not our cheer!
The planks looked warped! and see those sails,
How thin they are and sere!
I never saw aught like to them,
Unless perchance it were
Brown skeletons of leaves that lag
My forest-brook along;
When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
That eats the she-wolf's young.'
'Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look--
(The Pilot made reply)
I am a-feared'--`Push on, push on!'
Said the Hermit cheerily.
The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirred;
The boat came close beneath the ship,
And straight a sound was heard.
The ship suddenly sinketh. Under the water it rumbled on,
Still louder and more dread:
It reached the ship, it split the bay;
The ship went down like lead.
The ancient Mariner is saved in the Pilot's boat.
Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
Which sky and ocean smote,
Like one that hath been seven days drowned
My body lay afloat;
But swift as dreams, myself I found
Within the Pilot's boat.
Upon the whirl, where sank the ship,
The boat spun round and round;
And all was still, save that the hill
Was telling of the sound.
I moved my lips--the Pilot shrieked
And fell down in a fit;
The holy Hermit raised his eyes,
And prayed where he did sit.
I took the oars: the Pilot's boy,
Who now doth crazy go,
Laughed loud and long, and all the while
His eyes went to and fro.
`Ha! ha!' quoth he, `full plain I see,
The Devil knows how to row.'
And now, all in my own countree,
I stood on the firm land!
The Hermit stepped forth from the boat,
And scarcely he could stand.
The ancient Mariner earnestly entreateth the Hermit to shrieve him; and the penance
of life falls on him.
'O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!'
The Hermit crossed his brow.
'Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee say--
What manner of man art thou?'
Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale;
And then it left me free.
And ever and anon through out his future life an agony constraineth him to travel
from land to land;
Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns:
And till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.
I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that his face I see,
I know the man that must hear me:
To him my tale I teach.
What loud uproar bursts from that door!
The wedding-guests are there:
But in the garden-bower the bride
And bride-maids singing are:
And hark the little vesper bell,
Which biddeth me to prayer!
O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been
Alone on a wide wide sea:
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seeméd there to be.
O sweeter than the marriage-feast,
'Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the kirk
With a goodly company!--
To walk together to the kirk,
And all together pray,
While each to his great Father bends,
Old men, and babes, and loving friends
And youths and maidens gay!
And to teach, by his own example, love and reverence to all things that God made and
loveth.
Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
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.