Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

tHE WAH OF CARDS. 263
been hbard ; thy ghost has brightened in wind, when
thou didst bend from thy cloud to hear the song of Mor-
yen's bard !" — " And do thine eyes," said Oscar, "be-
hold the chief, like the dim meteor of night? Say,
Ryno, say, how fell Hidallan, the renowned in the days
of my fathers ! His name remains on the rocks of
Cona. I have often seen the streams of his hills I"
Finjral, replied the bard, drove Hidallan from his
wars. ' The king's soul was sad for Comala, and his
eyes could not behold the chief. Lonely, sad, along
the heath he slowly moved, with silent steps. His arms
hung disordered on his side. His hair flies loose from
his brow. The tear is in his downcast eyes ; a sigh
half silent in his bi-east ! Three days he strayed unseen,
alone, before he came to Lamor's halls: the mossy
halls of his fathers, at the stream of Balva. There
Lamor sat alone beneath a tree ; for he had sent his
people with Hidallan to war. The stream ran at his
feet ; his gr&y head rested on his staff. Sightless are
his aged eyes. He hums the song of other times.
The noiso of Hidallan's feet came to his ear : he knew
the tread of his son.
" Is the son of Lamor returned ; or is it the sound
of his ghosi 1 Hast thou fallen on the banks of Carun,
son of the aged Lamor '^ Or, if I hear the sound of
Hidallan's feet, where are the mighty in the war?
where are my people, Hidallan ! that were wont to re-
turn with their echoing shields ? Have they fallen on
the banks of Carun?"
" No," replied the sighing youth, " the people of
Lamor live. They are renowned in war, my father !
but Hidallan is renowned no more. I must sit alone
on the banks of Balva, when the roar of the battle
grows."
" But thy fathers never sat alone," replied the rising
pride of Lamor. " They never sat alone on the banks