Blair Collection > Selections from the Gaelic bards

190 ANCIENT GAELIC BASDS.
" Proudly rode he on the earth
Not rnauy days bygone :
And now the earth," the second cried,
"It rests on his breast-bone."
Then did the third wise speaker say, —
" Not many days ere this
He own'd the whole round world ; and 1
Not seven short feet are his!"
"Alexander treasured gold
To serve his every whim ;
And now," the fourth man sagely said,
"'Tis gold that treasures him.
" Like gold was Philip's son — the gold
That binds the jewels bright;
Like the palm among the trees ; the moon
Amid the stars of night;
" Like the great whale among small fish ;
The lion 'mid the slain ;
The eagle when she drives the birds
From the rock of her lone reign.
" Like Sion hill amid the hills —
The hill that holiest seems ;
Like the great sea unto the floods ;
Like Jordan 'mid the streams.
"He was a man above all men,
Save the high King of Heaven ;
To him were armies, towns and lands
And herds and forests given."