Classic Poem

I heard a voice crying
In the wilderness of night;
I saw great branches swaying,
Black boughs afloat on white
Intangible, thin light.

The light it never curdled
Into lips of foam,
Shook no green, shivering tresses
To drown seamen's caresses —
The dark Ship staggering home.

There came no rolling breakers,
No tall waves roaring high;
But it was peaceful, peaceful,
And it was empty, empty;
An Albatross was I.

An Albatross was I,
There was no sea nor sky,
No dark Ship plunging, plunging,
No dead men drifting by
Beneath that piercing cry:

But all was clear and silent,
Moon-empty round that thing,
That grey wind-glimmering wing