Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

420 THE POEMS OF OSSIAN.
soul of the valiant wander on the winds. Faint
glimmers the moon on Moi-lena, through the broad-
headed groves of the hill ! Raise stones, beneatbi
its beam, to alltlie fallen in war. Though no chiefs
were they, yet their hands were strong in fight.
They were my rock in danger ; the mountain from
which I spread my eagle wings. Thence am I re-
nowned. Carril, forget not the low!"
Loud, at once, from the hundred bards, rose the
song of the tomb. Carril strode before them; they
are the murmur of streams behindhis steps. Silence
dwells in the vales of Moi-lena, where each, with
its own dark rill, is winding between the hills. I
heard the voice of the bards, lessening, as they
moved along. I leaned forward from my shield;
and felt the kindling of my soul. Half-formed, the
words of my song burst forth upon the wind. So,
hears a tree, on the vale, the voice of spring around.
It pours its green leaves to the sun. It shakes its
lonely head. The hum of the mountain bee is near
it ; the hunter sees it with joy, from the blasted
heath.
Young Fillan at a distance stood. His helmet
lay glittering on the ground. His dark hair is loose
to the blast. A beam of light is Clatho's son ! He
heard the words of the king, with joy. He leaned
forward on his spear.
" My son," said car-borne Fingal, " I saw thy
deeds, and my soul was glad. The fame of our fa-
thers, I said, bursts from its gathering cloud. Thou
art brave, son of Clatho \ but headlong in the strife.
So did not Fingal advance, though he never feared
a foe. Let thy people be a ridge behind. They are
thy strength in the field. Then shalt thou be long
renowned, and behold the tombs of the old. The
memory of the past returns, my deeds in other
years : when first I descended from ocean on the
jrreen-valleyed isle."
We bend towards the voice of the king. The moon
looks abroad from her cloud. The grey-skirted
mist is near : the dwelling of the ghosts !