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Cali’s Ancient Mariner by Don Schwartz
Firefighters battle to save homes from the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, on Thursday. photo: Stephen Lam
AFTER SO MANY DAYS OF UNPRECE-
dented smoke and no wind in my adopted home of Northern California, I was reminded of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1834).
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
In the poem, a sailor on a wooden ship has been cursed for having killed a seabird, an albatross, for no reason. One consequence of that curse is having the dead bird hanging from his neck, and another is being on a sailing ship with no wind.
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English author and poet (1772-1834). photo: unknown
Our smoke is staying with us because we have no wind. Indeed, as of November 18th it has been many days, even weeks, of these conditions, with school cancelled, people with asthma and other conditions confined indoors and average adults restricting exercise and more.
It is unclear when the smoke will clear, when the wind will return.
The mariner’s sin was to kill an innocent seabird. Finally, in a seeming non sequitur, as he regards the slimy sea creatures surrounding his ship, he blesses them.
Beyond the shadow of the ship,
I watched the water-snakes:
They moved in tracks of shining white,
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.
Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.
O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.
The sea creatures predicted to reside in the Atlantic by Spanish artists, circa 14th century. photo: unknown
The albatross is released from his neck and the wind returns, but one aspect of the curse will never be removed. The mariner must roam the Earth, telling his story.
The seabird, of course, is a symbol of the natural world, the world we have been attacking for generations.
When will we bless this world, and honor it, and protect it?
Don Schwartz is an actor, writer and blogger on all things documentary, and can be seen here or reached .