Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 3

lift his flowing hair ! " Such were thy words,
Dar-thula, in Selama's mossy towers. But, now,
the night is around thee. The winds have de-
ceived thy sails, Dar-thula ! Their blustering
sound is high. Cease a little while, O north
wind ! Let me hear the voice of the lovely.
Thy voice is lovely, Dar-thula, between the
rustling blasts !
" Arc these the rocks of Nathos ?" she said,
" This the roar of his mountain-streams ? Comes
that beam of light from Usnoth's nightly hall ?
The mist spreads around ; the beam is feeble and
distant far. But the light of Dar-thula's soul
dwells in the chief of Etha ! Son of the gene-
rous Usnoth, why that broken sigh ? Arc we
in the land of strangers, chief of echoing Etha!"
" These are not the rocks of Nathos," he re-
plied, " nor this the roar of his streams. No
light comes from Etha's halls, for they are dis-
tant far. We are in the land of strangers, in the
land of cruel Cairbar. The winds have deceived
us, Dar-thula. Erin lifts here her hills. Go
towards the north, Althos : be tliy steps, Ardan,
along the coast; that the foe may not come in
darkness, and our hopes of Etha fail. I will
go towards that mossy lower, to sec who dwells