Hew Morrison Collection > Dàn an Deirg; agus, Tiomna Ghuill (Dargo and Gaul)

GAUL. 47
Beneath tlie dark bosom of the twilight.
Spare them, ere they leave thee alone,
Like myself, without one friend to cheer me !
25 Spare them ! for no hero now beholds
The blue fires of the beauteous beams.
Cona, once abode of light and joy.
Thy lamp is now under a cloud ;
Like an oak whose leaf fast withereth
30 Are thy palaces, and thy people are departed.
East or west o'er the face of thy heath
Nought is seen of them now but ruins.
In Selma, Taura, and Temora
No shell, nor song, nor harp remains.
35 Nought are they now but grassy mounds,
And the stones of their meads alone ;
And the stranger from out the sea or the desert
Their summits through the clouds shall not descry.
O Selma, home of my love !
40 Is this mound thy aged site,
Where the thistle heath and rank grass dwell,
Weeping with the dews of night 1
All around my gray hairs
Is hovering the solemn owl,
45 And the young roe starteth from his bed.
Nor fears he Ossian in sorrow.
Roe of the creviced rock,
Where erst Avas Oscar's and Fingal's dwelling,
I shall deal thee no hurt,