Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

TEMORA. 449
the mighty low. Fonar, from that grey-browed rock
pour the tale of other times : pour it on wide-skirted
Erin, as it settles round."
"Tome," saidCathmor, "no song shall rise; uor
Fonar sit on the rock of Lubar. The mighty there
are laid low. Disturb not their rushing ghosts. Far,
Malthos, far remove the sound of Erin's song. I re-
joice not over the foe, when he ceasps to lift the
spear. With morning we pour our strength abroad.
Fingal is wakened on his echoing hill."
Like waves, blown back by sudden winds, Erin re-
tired, at the voice of the king. Deep-rolled into the
field of night, they spread their humming tribes.
Beneath his own tree, at intervals, each bard sat
down with his harp. They raised the song, and
touched the string: each to the chief he loved. Be-
t fore a burning oak Sul-malla touched, at times, the
I harp. She touched the harp, and heard, between,
I the breezes in her hair. In darkness near, lay the
I king of Atha, beneath an aged tree. The beam of
I the oak was turned from him ; he saw the maid, but
was not seen. His soul poured forth, in secret,
1 when he beheld her fearful eye. " But battle is
i before thee, son of Borbar-duthul."
Amidst the harp, at intervals, she listened whether
1 the warrior slept. Her soul was up ; she longed, in
] secret, to pour her own sad song. The field is silent.
I On their wings the blasts of night retire. The
i bards had ceased ; and meteors came, red-winding
j with their gliosts. The sky grew dark : the forms
I of the dead were blended with the clouds. But
i heedless bends the daughter of Conmor, over the
i decaying flame. Thou wert alone in her soul, car-
; borne chief of Atha. She raised the voice of the
i, song, and touched the harp between.
"Clun-gaio* came; she missed the maid. Where
art thou, beam of light r Hunters, from the mossy
rock, saw ye the blue-eyed fair ? Are her steps on
* Clun-galo, the wife of Conmor, king of Inis-
huna, and the mother of Sul-malla. She is here re-
presented as missing her daughter, after she had
fled with Cathmor.