Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

DAR-THULA. 279
The brothers of Nathos are brave ! and his own sword
has shone in fight. But what are the sons of Usnoth to
the host of dark-browed Cairbar ! O that the winds had
brought thy sails, Oscar king of men ! Thou didst
promise to come to the battles of fallen Cormac ! Then
would my hand be strong, as the flaming arm of death.
Cairbar would tremble in his halls, an 1 peace dwell
round the lovely Dar-thula. But why dost thou fall, my
soul ? The sons of Usnoth may prevail ! "
" And they will prevail, O Nathos ! " said the rising
soul of the maid. " Never shall Dar-thula behold the
halls of gloomy Cairbar. Give me those arms of brass,
that glitter to the passing meteor. I see them dimly in
the dark-bosomed ship. Dar-thula will enter the battle
of steel. Ghost of the noble Colla ! do I behold thee on
that cloud ? Who is that dim beside thee ? Is it the car-
borne Truthil ? Shall I behold the halls of him that slew
Selama's chief! No : I will not behold them, spirits of
my love ! "
Joy rose in the face of Nathos, when he heard the white-
bosomed maid. " Daughter of Selama ! thcu shinest
along my soul. Come, with thy thousands, Cairbar ! the
strength of Nathos is returned ! Thou, O aged Usnoth !
shalt not hear that thy son has fled. I remember thy
words on Etha ; when my sails began to rise : when I
spread them towards Erin, towards the mossy walls of
Tura ! 'Thou goest,' he said, 'O Nathos, to the king
of shields ! Thou goest to Cuihullin, chief of men, who
never fled from danger. Let not thine arm be feeble :
neither be thy thoughts of flight ; lest the son of Semo