Ossian Collection > Reliquiae Celticae > Volume 2

THE BOOK OF CLAXFiANAI.D. 247
In hospitality, in j^ractical goodness —
Tlio favourite of our king is, alas ! in the earth.
He was a fosterer and patron of our schools,
Oiu- grievous loss, God, is his departure,
His life commanded my esteem.
There is but the usual casualty in our death.
A lion in the fierceness of his exploits.
But he would approach to nothing base ;
He was a leading man in making for peace —
My beloved was the protection of strangers and friends. ^
There is a wound in my breast lamenting him,
A pilgrim am I and a man without substance ;
I am mad whatever I am,
God, it is about my chief and king.
Active was his mind on the field of battle,
A leader of an army wlio refused not an encounter ;
A hand not feeble in the hard conflict.
Was Donald, the victorious, the faii'-handed.
At the friendly request of his king.
He carried arms from the time he could wield them ;
He was an encounterer of the fury of the battle,
A hero was my staunch and free-born darling.
A most active scion was he in every battle,
A most liberal bestower on the poor ;
He was the heart of true affection-
He is now laid low, the beloved of the learned.
King-fish of his race, the rapid salmon,
And the last of the princes of Ross,
He was the prosperity of this western land of grey swords,
1 pledge myself about him, long since I heard it.
Since hig body has been piit in the grave,
My stay in this wan world is miserable ;
For I cannot, though his praise is my duty.
Find the chief of the people to whom to make my song.
Many a man in fair Uist
And woman, too, are in madness of grief ;
On account of the chief that is hid in earth.
The shield of warriors who fled not pursuit.