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 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 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 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 is still 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 pilots boat, his son and the hermit

Penance of life will fall onto Him



And the ship sinks like lead into the sea

And the hermit shrieves the Mariner of his sins



The Mariner’s bound to tell of his story

To tell his 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