W is for...Water

Water, water, everywhere and all the boards did shrink.

Water, water, everywhere nor any drop to drink...

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

With the record flooding going on in Iquitos, Peru lately, it reminded me of a poem I'd read long ago. Well...it reminded me of the above lines from the poem. 

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was written by an English poet named Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797-98.  It's his longest work and was published in 1798.

It's a really cool poem about the adventures/misfortunes of a sailor. He stops a guy on the way to a wedding and tells him the story. The voyage starts well...

"The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.

The sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea."

Then things go bad...

"And now the storm-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong:
He struck with his o'er taking wings,
And chased us south along.

The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!

Finally an albatross comes along and leads them out into clear sailing again.  But...the sailor kills it with his crossbow.  Then things really get bad...that's where the water, water every where line comes in...so the others sailors tie the dead bird around his neck...

You'll have to read the rest to find out what happens but it's something you'll enjoy I think.  He's a link.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner