Iron Maiden
Powerslave (1984) - Lyrics

Hear the rime of the Ancient Mariner

See his eye as he stops one of three

Mesmerises 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



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
thirst 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."



[SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)]



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

Onwards 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.



[NARRATIVE]

"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."



[SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
(1772-1834)]



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 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.



Hear the
groans 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 of his sins



The Mariner's bound to tell of his story

To tell his 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.