Anear, Around, the glad waves bound
    Careering o'er the sea;
The foaming crests high rear'd their heads,
    Proud of their liberty;
And each white tip look'd like a stone
    In a mighty cemetery.

Ah me! they were a gallant crew
    As faire as faire could be;
As brave and bold as ne'er was told
    Of a goodlie companie;
And the ship sped on beneath the sun
    To the sound of minstrelsie.

And now the sun had climb'd the sky
    Right straight above their mast,
And lookèd down like God's own eye
    On the ship that sailèd fast;
And on the deck all look'd, and saw
    No shadow it did cast.

The day wax'd old, the evening came
    Out of the eastern skies,
And in the West a ruby flame
    Shone o'er their charmèd eyes;
And broad and bright, a glorious sight,
    The moon did softly rise.

Out of the East and with the night
    The moon did softly steal;
Calm grew the breeze, and straightway then
    The companie did kneel;
And as they knelt, with gentle tone
    The vesper–bell did peal.

And then there rose from sea to sky
    In loud, harmonious swell,
The sounds of tender melody
    An earnest prayer can tell;
And through the cry was heard to sigh
    The holy vesper–bell.

And on the ship there fell a calm,
    Her sails flapt to and fro;
And sweetly slept that goodlie ship
    Beneath the moonshine glow;
And the waves they sang a quiet tune
    As they journey'd to and fro.

O Christ! it is a blessed sight
    To see beneath the sky,
Hush'd by the waves, hush'd by the moon
    A ship sleep peacefully;
Whiles all around steals up the sound
    Of a gentle melody.

A mother singing to her child
    Dormi blandule;
The mavis' note that sweet doth float
    Through shady greenwood tree,
Is not so exquisite, I ween,
    As an ocean's melody.

The sounds of psalmodie have ceased,
    No more to overwhelm,
The gentle murmur of the waves
    That chase the ocean realm;
But One alone remains awake,
    And he is at the helm.

He gazeth on the crystal shield
    Emparadising night;
Lo and behold! his brow is cold
    What doth him so affright?
He gazeth on the quiet tide.
    And his hair it stands upright.

Slow rising from the sapphire flood,
    The taper masts, I ween,
Of a ghostly ship rose up and shone
    Bright in the pale moon–sheen;
And they rose and rose from that sapphire flood,
    Hush'd in a sleep serene.

Slowly they rose, and as they mount
    Into the moonlit air,
The helmsman saw the masts and spars
    Of a Phantom Vessel there;
And as they clomb the helmsman gazed
    With a dull and leaden stare.

The lazy stars that shone on high
    Gleam'd redly through dim space;
And the bloody moon stood in the sky,
    Showing her awful face;
And the helmsman 'gainst the quivering heavens,
    These phantom masts did trace.

The helmsman shook—the blood forsook
    His heart, and to his head
It rush'd with might, and dimm'd his sight
    In a canopy of red;
And drops of agony his brow
    In big round drops did shed.

And ever mounting rose the hull,
    Its decks exposed to view;
And the helmsman gazed with pale affright
    At a diabolic crew:
At skeleton forms that did compose
    This diabolic crew.

Around each head there shone a flame
    As plays upon the tomb;
And it shone most horribly distinct
    In the tremulous moonlit gloom;
It shone like the ray that clouds send forth
    From their deep horrific womb.

O dread and woful suffering!
    O mortal agony!
To see an hideous sight, yet know
    Not what that sight may be!
To stand and quake and fear and shake
    Before dead companie!

To gaze upon the spectral dead
    With cold and livid cheek,
Whiles in thine eye the pale moonshine
    Glows drowsily and bleak,
And watch the spectres' grinning mouths
    With lips that never speak!

Ah me! that it should e'er have been!
    For, pacing to and fro,
A horrible form was there, I ween,
    Pale in the moonshine glow;
A form that look'd an it had been
    Bleach'd in the Land of Snow.

Its fleshless skull with eyeless holes
    Wagg'd fearfully about;
And at the ears and at the mouth
    Foul things crept in and out;
And the lifeless limbs on this lifeless form
    Moved restlessly about.

The helmsman's gaze in the red moon's blaze
    Wax'd faint and cold and dim;
He watch'd the sight by the bloody light,
    But could not move a limb;
And his brow grew cold as the earthy mould—
    O Jesu, pity him!