Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

Carrie- Thur a. 1(J7
hear tliy voice as thou passes;!, when mid-day is
silent around !
. Such was the song of Cronnan, on the night ot
Selma's joy. But morning rose in the east ; the
blue waters rolled in light. Fingal bade his sails
to rise ; the winds came i-ustling from their hills.
Inistore rose to sight, and Carric-thura's mossy
towers ! But the sign of distress was on their
top : the warning flame edged with smoke. The
king of Morven struck his breast : he assumed at
once his spear. His darkened brow bends forward
to the coast : he looks back to the lagging winds.
His hair is disordered on his back. The silence of
the king is terrible !
Night came down on the seaj Rotha's bay
received the ship. A rock bends along the coast
with all its echoing wood. On the top is the circle
of Loda, the mossy stone of power ? A narrow
plain spreads beneath, covered with grass and aged
trees, which the midnight winds, in their wrath,
had torn from the shaggy rock. The blue course
of a stream is there ! the lonely blast of ocean pur-
sues the thistle's beard. The flame of three oaks
arose : the feast is spread around ; but the soul of
the king is sad, for CaiTic-thura's chief distrest.
The wan cold moon rose in the east. Sleep de-
scended on the youths ! Their blue helmets glitter
to the beam; the fading fire decays. But sleep
did not rest on the king : be rose in the midst of
his arms, and slowly ascended the hill, to behold
the flame of Sarno's tower.
The flame was dim and distant ; the moon hid
her red face in the east. A blast came from the
mountain, on its wings was the spirit of Loda.
He came to his place in his terrors, and shook his
dusky spear. His eyes appear like flames in his
dark face ; his voice is like distant thunder. Fin-
gal advanced his spear in night, and raised his
voice on high.