Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

1 26 THE 13EATH OF CUCHULLIN:
night, when the dreams of his reft defcend : when the
bards ftrike the diftant harp, and the faint hght gleams
on Selma's walls. Or let the grief of Lara rife, and the
fighs of the mother of Calmar*, when he was fought, in
vain, on his hills ; and fhe beheld his bow in the hall.
Carril, place the fhield of Caithbat on that branch ; and
let the fpear of Cuchullin be ner.r ; that the found of my
battle may rife with the gray beam of the eaft." The
hero leaned on his father's fliield : the fong of Lara rofe.
The hundred bards were diftant far : Carril alone is near
the chief. The words of the fong were his ; and the
found of his harp was mournful.
" Alcletha f with the aged locks ! mother of car-borne
Calmar I why doft thou look towards the defart, to be-
hold the return of thy fon? Thefe are not his heroes, dark
on the heath : nor is that the voice of Calmar : it is but
the diftant grove, Alcletha I but the roar of the moun-
tain wind I" Who I bounds over Lara's ftream, fifter of
the noble Calmar ? Does not Alcletha behold his fpear ?
But her eyes are dim I Is it not tjie fon of Matha, daugh-
ter of my love :"
" It is but an aged oak, Alcletha I" rephed the lovely
weeping Alona§. " It is but an oak, Alcletha, bent
over Lara's ftream. But who comes along the plain?
forrow is in his fpeed. He lifts high the fpear of Calmar.
Alcletha, it is covered with blood !" " But it i^ covered
with the blood of foes ||, fifter of car-borne Cajmar I his
fpear never returned unftained with blood, nor his bow
from the ftrife of the mighty. The battle is confumed
in his prefence : he is a flame of death, Alona I Youth **
of the mournful fpeed I where is the fon of Alcletha ?
Does
• Calmar the fon of Matha. His death isrelated at large, in the third book of
Fingal. lie was the only fon of Matha: and the family was extinft in liim. The
feat of the family was on tlie ijanks of the river Lara, in the neighbourhood of
Lego, and probably near the place where Cuchullin lay ; which circumllance fug-
gelled to him, the lamentation of Alcletha over her fon.
f Ald-cla'tha, deiayi»^ beauty; probably a poetical name given the mother of
Calmar, by the bard himfelf.
\ Alcletha fpeaks. Calmar had promifed to return, by a certain day, and his
mother and his filler Alona are reprefented by the bard as looking, with impa-
tience, towards that quarter where they expefted Calmar would make his firfl;
appearance.
II Aluine, exquijitely beautiful.
§ Alcleiha fpeaks.
** She addreflesherfelf to Larnir, Calmar's friend, who had returned with the
news of his death.