Ossian Collection > Original collection of the poems of Ossian, Orrann, Ulin, and other bards, who flourished in the same age

A HEROIC POEM. 1S5
great streams from the desert, like the clouds of
the sky, like the thick ocean, like certain high
flames on the heaths, so the foes of the battle of
Erin met, noisy and dauntless.
With strokes every helmet rang; every
shield resounded, spears were broken in pieces,
and bright sparks from them leaped forth. Every
hard bending bow made a snorting noise with its
string, and nimble grey clouds of smoke rose in
the sky: heroes were stretched on the cold earth,
and the groans of people were heard among the
mountains of Erin. Race of the cold vales, said
Fingal, lift op each shield like the moon: follow
me with loud noise, like a tempest, and cutoff the
foes of Erin. The king marched away, powerful
and valiant, as the shade of a cloud on the windy
mountains, as the dark bending blast on the hill^
it blew, and they fell by his side. There was the
bloody fray; there was the terrible distress:
red-handed, sharp pointed death strode along,
and the vestige of the strokes was dreadful*.
Bloody! O bloody was the king, when his sword
gleamed in the skyf ! INear him, as a firebrand,
was Raoine; and Gaul, as the vapour of the
clouds; swifter than the wind was Fergus; and
Faolan, as the bending mist of the mountains.
Like a rock I went forth to meet them, and Fin-
gal sweeming in victory was the joy of my souL
^ Direful.
t Air.