ALBATROSS--award winner

ALBATROSS


“O Albatross, vintage bird,
Sentry of lonely sky,
Bemoaning selfish sailor?
Why let out plaintive cry?

You gave him sustenance when
His own hope had faltered.
But, in a satanic act,
His soul he had bartered.

Hung around his neck, did you
Peep in the sailor’s eye?
Tell me if any remorse
In his eye you did spy.”

“Not a tear of remorse did
My death in his eye bring.
To him I was nothing but
A wretched slimy thing.”

“Albatross, tell me how was
His soul retrieved at last.
All alone, how did he steer
Through the deep ocean vast?”

“Looking down, he saw sea snakes
And, with grace, blessed them he.
As soon as he spoke I sank
Like lead into the sea”.


• Written in abcb, 7-6-7-6 format
• Awarded first place in Eternally Our Friends Poetry Contest, "~Eternally Our Friends Poetry Contest~" , 10th round, hosted by Captaintaya

• This is a conversation between the albatross and the poet in the background of the “Rime of the ancient mariner”, a seven part tale recounted by Coleridge.
Two relevant stanzas from Coleridge are given below—

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


* “The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea”. –Coleridge


• Albatross, the sailor’s friend, is fast becoming extinct. To know why, view http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/About_Antarctica/Wildlife/Birds/Albatrosses.html

* Initially written as item 900971, deleted on 1 October 2005 and replaced by entry 376538 in the book MISCELLANEA , "MISCELLANEA" . Posted as the present static item, 14 May 2008.

M C Gupta
17 October 2004