Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

228 The Poems of Ossian.
of the deed, and gloomy battle rose. From isle to
isle they sent a spear, broken and stained with blood,
to call the Mends of their fathers in their sounding
arms. Cathmor came from Erin to Culgorm, red-
eyed king: I aided Suran-dronlo in his land of boars.
" We rushed on either side of a stream, which
roared through a blasted heath. High broken
rocks were round, with all their bending trees.
Near were two circles of Loda, with the stone of
power, where spirits descended by night in dark-red
streams of fire. There, mixed with the murmur of
waters, rose the voice of aged men; they called
the forms of night to aid them in their war.
" Heedless I stood with my people, where fell
the foamy stream from rocks. The moon moved
red from the mountain. My song at times arose.
Dark, on the other side, young Cathmor beard my
voice, for he lay beneath the oak, in all his gleam-
ing arms. Morning came : we rushed to the fight;
i'rom wing to wing is the rolling of strife. They
fell like the thistle's head beneath autumnal winds.
"In armour came a stately form: I mixed my
strokes with the chief. By turns our shields are
pierced: loud rung our steely mails. His helmet
fell to the ground. In brightness shone the foe.
His eyes, two pleasant flames, rolled between his
wandering locks. I knew Cathmor of Atha, and
threw my spear on earth. Dark we turned, and
silent passed to mix with other foes.
" Not so passed the striving kings. They mixed
in echoing fray, like the meeting of ghosts in the
dark wing of winds. Through either breast rushed
the spears, nor yet lay the foes on earth ! A rock
received their fall; half-reclined they lay in death.
Each held the lock of his foe : each grimly seemed
to roll his eyes. The stream of the rock leapt on
their shields, and mixed below with blood.
*' The battle ceased in I-thorno. The strangers
met in peace : Cathmor from Atha of streams, and