Ossian Collection > Works of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volumes 3 and 4

A N E P 1 C P O E M. 63
Not unmarked , faid Foldath , were my
ileps before thy race. In light, I met the foes
of Cairbar; the warrior praifed my deeds.
But his ftone was raifed without a tear. No
bard fung * ) over Erin's king ; and fhall his
foes rejoice along their mofly hills? No:
they muft not rejoice : he was the friend of
Foldath. Our words were mixed , in fecret, in
Moma's filent cave; whilft thou, a boy in the
field, purfuedft the thiftle's beard. With
Moma's fons I ihall rufh abroad, and find the
foe, on his duiky hills. Fingal fhall lie without
his fong, the grey -haired king of Selma.
Doft thou think, thou feeble man, replied
the chief of Atha ; doft thou think, that he can
fall , without his fame , in Erin ? Could the
bards be (ilent, at the tomb of the migiity
Fingal? The fong would burft In fecret; and
the fpirit of the king rejoice. It is, when
thou fhalt fall , that the bard fhall forget the
fong. Thou art dark, chief of Moma, tho*
thine arm is a tempeft in war. Do I for-
get
* ) To have no funeral elegy fung over his tomb ,
was , in thofe days , reckoned the greateft mis-
fortune that could befall a man ; as his ibnl
could not otherwife be adnxitted to the atry
hall of his fathers.