Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volume 2

24 dar-thula:
clouds rejoice in thy presence, O moon, and brighten
their dark-brown sides. Who is Hke thee in heaven,
daughter of the night? The stars are ashamed in thy
presence, and turn aside their green, sparkling eyes.
Whither dost thou retire from thy course, when the
darkness b of thy countenance grov/s ? Hast thou thy
]iall like Ossian? Dwellest thou in the shadow of gnet?
Have thy sisters fallen from heaven ? Are they who re-
joiced wiiJi thee at night, no more \ Yes ! they have
fallen, fair light ! and thou dost often retire to mourn.
But thou thyself shalt fail, one night ; and leave thy
blue path in heaven. The stars will then lift their
jrreen heads : they who v/ere ashamed in thy presence
.■/ill rejoice. Thou art now clothed with thy bright-
iiess: look from- thy gates in the sky. Burst the cloud,
O wind, that the daughter of night m.ay look forth,
that the shaggy mountains may brighten, and the o-
cean roil its blue waves in light.
Nathos (^ is on the deep, and Alt]:ios that beam of
youth ; Ardan is near his brothers ; they move in the
gleam of their course. The sons of Usnoth move in the.
darkness, from the WTath of car-borne Cairbar ^. Who
is that dim, by their side ? the night has covered her
beauty. Her hair sighs on ocean's wind ; her robe
streams in dusky wreaths. She is like the fair spirit of
heaven, in tlie midst of his shadov/y mist. Who is it
but Darthulae, the first of Erin's maids? She has lied
trom the love of Cairbar, with the car-borne Nathos,
h Tlie poet means the moon in lier wane.
c Kathos signifies 'youthful ;' Ailthos, • exquisite beauty ;' Ardan.
« pride.'
d Cairbar, who murdered Cormac kinjr of Ireland, and usurped
the throne. He wa;; afi.ervvards killed by Oscar the son of Osstan in
a single combat. The jioet upon other occasioas gives him tJie epi-
thet of red haired,
e Dar thula, or Dart 'huiJe, • a woman with fine eyes.' She was
the most famous beauty of antiquity. To this day, when a womac^ ■
« wa'sedfor her beauty, the common phrase is, that ' she is iovely
aiiiar-ihuli.*