Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

274 DAR-THULA.
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 generous Usnoth, why that broken sigh ?
Are we in the land of strangers, chief of echoing Etha ! "
" These are not the rocks of Nathos," he replied, " nor
this the roar of his streams. No light comes from Etha's
halls, for they are distant 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 thy 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 tower, to see who dwells about the beam. Rest,
Darthula, on the shore ! rest in peace, thou lovely light !
the sword of Nathos is around thee, like the lightning of
heaven ! "
He went. She sat alone ; she heard the rolling of the
wave. The big tear is in her eye. She looks for
returning Nathos. Her soul trembles at the blast. She
turns her ear towards the tread of his feet. The tread of
his feet is not heard. " Where art thou, son of my love !
The roar of the blast is around me. Dark is the cloudy
night. But Nathos does not return. What detains thee,
chief of Etha ? Have the foes met the hero in the strife
of the night ? "
He returned, but his face was dark. He had seen his
departed friend ! It was the wall of Tura.* The ghost of
* Campbell remarks here— "There is no place in Ireland so
veili d in the mists of antiquity as Carrickfergus Castle. -That
place and Connor— Temora— were considered the most ancient