Ossian Collection > Gaelic bards

206 ANCIENT GAELIC BIRDS.
But the tired kid his head shall lay
Upon my breast and sleep secure.
Then, flowing on the breeze's wing,
Come the soft plainings of the lamb,
And let the mellowing distance bring
The answer of its bleating dam.
Oft let the hunter's step go by,
His whizzing javelins let me hear ;
And to my cheek youth's blood will fly
When comes the chase with tumult near.
Now marrow to my bones 'twill bring
To hear the string, the horn, the hound.
When loud, "The stag is down," they sing,
I'll leap to hear the darling sound.
My dog, I'll see him in that mood
Who late and early follow'd me,
And O our dear hilly solitude
And crags that heard my bugle's glee.
And I shall s'ee the welcome cave.
That saved us from the darkening night :
Its flikering flame shall Avane and wave —
Its quaichs once more shall give delight.
The sweet dear-flesh we'll roast it well ;
Treig's singing brook our thirst allay ;
Though mountains roar and ghosts should yell,
We '11 calmly rest us there till day.
Then high Ben-Ard"^ his form will rear —
Chief of a thousand hills is he —
*Ben-Ard is apparently Ben Kevis, the grandest and the
highest mountain in Britain, 4,406 feet high.