Ossian Collection > Gaelic bards

208 ANCIENT GAELIC BARDS.
Whence do the wandering breezes roam,*
That waft us thus thy grief and care,
O youth ! who went so far from home,
And left my hoary head so bare I
Are thine eyes tearful still, young maid.
So white of hand, so fair and wise 1
Peace rest with him that ne'er will fade,
AVho from his strait bed may not rise !
O winds ! tell me, whose eyes have fail'd,
The sighing reeds where now they grow,
Past which the trouts have often sail'd
On wings that never felt you blow !
Oh raise me 1 raise me with strong arm !
Beneath a new shade let me lie ;
The sun is riding high and warm.
Let the green branches shield ray eye.
Then wilt thou come, O vision mild !
That wand'rest 'mid the stars of night ;
And in thy music sweet and wild
Thou'lt bring me thoughts of past delight.
Oh see, my soul ! yon maiden fair
Beneath the oak-tree, king of groves 1
* At this place Mrs. Grant of Laggan — who has given a
translation of " The Old Bard's Wish," among her poems published
in 1803 — makes the following remark : — "As there is very little
frost or snow in the Islands, great numbers of swans come there
from Norway in tlie beginning of winter. Some stay to hatch,
but they mostly go northward in summer. This furnishes the
bard with the fine image, very strongly expressed in the original,
of the north wind bearing towards him the moan of the departed;
upon which he inquires of the swan from what cold country
that well-known voice came. This aflfords him a pretence for
digressing.