"I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand.

I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
And thy skinny hand, so brown."–
Fear not, fear not, thou wedding-guest!
This body drop not down.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.

The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.

<i>The Rime of the Ancient Mariner</i>, Samuel Taylor Coleridge: 1798