Iron Maiden Rime of the Ancient Mariner lyrics

Hear the rime of the ancient mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerizes 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 the 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, yeah yeah

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 till 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 curse 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

See the wounds 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 pilot's boat, his son and the hermit, penance of life will fall onto him
And the ship it sinks like lead into the sea
And the hermit shrives the mariner sins

The mariner's bound to tell of his story, to tell this 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 and on