Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

FinpaJ. 299
halls, and the feast of a thousand shells was spread.
Let the hards send his name who overcame to
future yeai-s, for nohle was the strife of JNIalmor !
But many of the ships of Lochlin have lost their
youths on Lena, Take these, thou king of Morven,
and he the friend of Swaran ! When thy son shall
come to Gormal, the feast of shells shall be spread,
and the combat offered on the vale."
"Nor ship," replied the king-, "shall Fiagal take,
nor land of many hills. The desert is enough to
me, with all its deer and woods. Rise on thy waves
again, thou noble friend of Agandecca ! Spread
thy white sails to the beam of the morning ; re-
turn to the echoing hills of Gormal." — "Blest be
thy soul, thou king of shells," said Swaran of the
dark-brown shield, " Li peace thou art the gale
of spring ; in war the mountain-storm. Take now
my hand in friendship, king of echoing Selma!
Let thy bards mourn those who fell. Let Erin
give the sons of Lochlin to earth. Raise high the
mossy stones of their fame ; that the children of the
north hereafter may behold the place where their
fathers fought. The hunter may say, when he
leans on a mossy tomb, Here Fingal and Swaran
fought, the heroes of other years. Thus hereafter
shall he say, and our fame shall last for ever,"
" Swaran," said the king of hills, " to-day our
fame is greatest. We shall pass away like a dream.
No sound will remain in our fields of war. Our
tombs will be lost in the heath. The hunter shall
not know the place of our rest. Our names may
be heard in song. What avails it, when cur
strength hath ceased? O Ossian, Carril, and UUin !
yoii know of heroes that are no more. Give us the
song of other years. Let the night pass away oa
the sound, and morning return with joy."
"We gave the song to the kings. An hundred
harps mixed their sound with our voice. The iace
of Swaran brightened, like the full moon of lieaveu ;