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"But I saw his white and palsied lips,
And the stare of his ghastly eye,

When he turned in hurried haste away,-
Yet he had no power to fly;

He was chained to the deck with his heavy guilt,
And the blood that was not dry.

""Twas a cursed thing,' said I, 'to kill

That old man in his sleep!

And the plagues of the storm will come from him Ten thousand fathoms deep!

"And the plagues of the storm will follow us,
For heaven his groans hath heard !'
Still the captain's eye was fixed on me,-
But he answered never a word.

"And he slowly lifted his bloody hand, His aching eyes to shade;

But the blood that was wet did freeze his soul, And he shrinked like one afraid.

"And even then-that very hour
The wind dropped, and a spell
Was on the ship,-was on the sea;
And we lay for weeks, how wearily,
Where the old man's body fell.

"I told no one within the ship
That horrid deed of sin;

For I saw the hand of God at work,
And punishment begin.

"And when they spoke of the murdered man, And the El Dorado hoard,

They all surmised he had walked in dreams, And had fallen overboard.

"But I, alone, and the murderer,

That dreadful thing did know,

How he lay in his sin-a murdered man,

A thousand fathom low.

"And many days, and many more Came on, and lagging sped;

And the heavy waves of that sleeping sea Were dark, like molten lead.

"And not a breeze came, east or west,
And burning was the sky;

And stifling was each breath we drew
Of the air so hot and dry.

"Oh me! there was a smell of death
Hung round us night and day;
And I dared not look in the sea below
Where the old man's body lay.

"In his cabin, alone, the captain kept,
And he bolted fast the door;
And up and down the sailors walked,
And wished that the calm was o'er.

"The captain's son was on board with us,― A fair child, seven years old,

With a merry look, that all men loved,
And a spirit kind and bold.

"I loved the child, and I took his hand,

And made him kneel, and pray

That the crime, for which the calm was sent,
Might be purged clean away.

"For I thought that God would hear his prayer,

And set the vessel free;

For a dreadful thing it was to lie

Upon that charnel sea.

“Yet I told him not wherefore he prayed,—
Nor why the calm was sent ;

I would not give that knowledge dark
To a soul so innocent.

"At length I saw a little cloud
Arise in that sky of flame;

A little cloud,—but it grew, and grew,
And blackened as it came.

"And we saw the sea beneath its track
Grow dark as the frowning sky:
And water-spouts, with a rushing sound,
Like giants, passed us by.

"And all around, 'twixt sky and sea,

A hollow wind did blow;

And the waves were heaved from the ocean depths, And the ship rocked to and fro.

"I knew it was that fierce death calm Its horrid hold undoing;

And I saw the plagues of wind and storm

Their missioned work pursuing.

"There was a yell in the gathering winds,

A groan in the heaving sea;

And the captain rushed from the hold below, But he durst not look on me.

"He seized each rope with a madman's haste, And he set the helm to go;

And every sail he crowded on

As the furious winds did blow.

"And away they went, like autumn leaves

Before the tempest's rout;

And the naked masts with a crash came down, And the wild ship tossed about.

"The men to spars and splintered boards
Clung, till their strength was gone;
And I saw them from their feeble hold
Washed over, one by one.

"And 'mid the creaking timber's din,
And the roaring of the sea,

I heard the dismal, drowning cries,
Of their last agony.

"There was a curse in the wind that blew,A curse in the boiling wave;

And the captain knew that vengeance came From the old man's ocean grave.

"And I heard him say, as he sate apart,

In a hollow voice and low,

'Tis a cry of blood doth follow us,

And still doth plague us so !'

"And then those heavy iron chests,

With desperate strength took he, And ten of the strongest mariners

Did cast them into the sea.

"And out from the bottom of the sea,
There came a hollow groan;
The captain by the gunwale stood,
And he looked like icy stone,-

And he drew in his breath with a gasping sob,
And a spasm of death came on.

"And a furious boiling wave rose up,
With a rushing, thundering roar;
I saw the captain fall to the deck,-
But I never saw him more.

"Two days before, when the storm began,
We were forty men and five;
But ere the middle of that night
There were but two alive.

"The child and I, we were but two, And he clung to me in fear;

Oh! it was pitiful to see

That meek child in his misery,

And his little prayers to hear!

"At length, as if his prayers were heard,
"Twas calmer,—and anon

The clear sun shone, and warm and low,
A steady wind from the west did blow,
And drove us gently on.

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