The Albatross Poem by Paul Hartal

She was vibrant, beautiful.
"So, how was your expedition? " she asked.

"It went well", he said.
"You know, researching albatrosses is quite difficult
but we were lucky. We managed to be acquainted
with a large tube-nosed seabird,
gliding near the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand.
Spreading his long wings, this large young male albatross,
with dark-spotted white feathers, followed our boat for a while.
He filled up his belly with eneough fish, it seems,
and then he headed home, probably to court females.
We followed him from a safe distance.
He landed on a wild-grass field of a wind swept island.
Then, in order to enchant females and to find a mate,
the albatross performed an elaborate ritual dance.
He preened and rearranged his dishevelled feathers.
Next, he sky-pointed his hook-billed head, clucked passionately
and extended braggingly his long wings."

" Fascinating", she said. "I take an interest in albatrosses, too,
but mainly in their role in art, film and literature.
In this regard we have to bear in mind that in western culture
the albatross arises as a metaphor,
an omen of both good and bad luck. Moreover, it is also a symbol
of guilt and of emotional burden. But you know, of course,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's ballad."

"No, I don't", said he.

She gave him a short pensive look.
"I mean the famous poem", she said,
" 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' that the English poet
published in 1798."

"I never heard of it. What is it about? "

"Since you are a scientist, I an not sure that you would appreciate
it because Coleridge extremely long poem is a supernatural tale.
It relates the story of a cursed sea voyage in which an albatross plays a central role. The long-winged seabird steers the ancient mariner's ship through the fog out of the ice jam in Antarctic waters and even affords favorable winds, but the old sailor shoots the albatross with a cross-bow. Shocked and angry, his fellow sailors tie the large dead bird around his neck as penance for his crime.
The wanton killing of the albatross brings bad luck on the ship
and in a terror of evil spirits all the sailors of the crew die,
except the ancient mariner. In the end, only the old sailor
returns to his country, as 'a sadder and wiser man'."