Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

458 THE POEMS OF OSSIAN.
Beneath the spear of Cathmor, rose that voict
which awakes the bards. They came, dark-windiuj
from every side ; each with the sound of his harp
Before him rejoiced the king, as the traveller, ir
the day of the sun; when he hears, far rolling
around, the murmur of mossy streams : streams
that burst in the desert, from the rock of roes
" Why," said Fonar, " hear we the voice of the
king, in the season of his rest ? Were the dim forms
of thy fathers bending in thy dreams ? Perhaps
they stand on that cloud, and wait for Fonar's song ;
often they come to the fields where their sons i
to lift the spear. Or shall our voice arise for him
who lifts the spear no more ; he that consumed the
field, from Moma of the groves ?"
" Not forgot is that cloud in war, bard of other
times. High shall his tomb rise, on Moi-lena, the
dwelling of renown. But, now, roll back my soul
to the times of my fathers : to the years when first
they rose, on Inis-huna's waves. Nor alone pleasant
to Cathmor is the remembrance of wood-covered
Lumon. Lumonofthe streams, the dwelling of
white-bosomed maids."
" Lumon* of the streams, thou risest on Fonar's
soul ! Thy sun is on thy side, on the rocks of thy ,
bending trees. The dun-roe is seen from thy furze;
the deer lifts his branchy head; for he sees, at times
the hound on the half-covered heath. Slow, on the
vale, are the steps of maids ; the white-armed daugh-
ters of the bow : theylift their blue eyes to the hill,
from amidst their wandering locks. Not there i
the stride of Larthon, chief of Inis-huna. He mounts
the wave on his own dark oak, in Cluba's ridgy
bay. That oak which he cut from Lumon, to bound
along the sea. The maids turn their eyes away, lest
the king should be lowly laid ; for never had they
seen a ship, dark rider of the wave!
" Now he dares to call the winds, and to mjx '
with the mist of ocean. Blue Inis-fail rose, in
smoke; but dark-skirted nightcame down. The sons
* A hill. Id Inis-huna, near the residence of Sul-
malla.