Ossian Collection > Reliquiae Celticae > Volume 2

THE BOOK OF CLANRANALD.
Ì51
"Via an impediment to the nohles of Scotland
The death of Macdonald, the goodly and brave ;
To the ratification of peace or a cause of war
Was the only leisure time they ol)tained.
To his own Ijlood it is a matter of inide
To have his heroic- deeds spoken of ;
Their heroes refused not kindness to the poor,
They were like wells of comfort and humbleness.
Their wisdom went behind [i.e., is lost],
On them fortune has turned her back ;
Pure armed heroes of the Clann Colla,
Unlively is the wail of their lament.
The mountains are issuing one by one
Snow, wind, and frozen sleet ;
And warmth shall not be in our land henceforth
On account of the death of Allan, the ever honest.
The wind l)lows fiercely, noisily, steeply,
And the sea responds to it very briskly,
The loud roaring of the waves falling,
And pools are flooded at dry towns.
Since the death of the heir of the sunny land.
Memorable has been our condition in the bad year ;
For in it there was no fruit in woods,
But the trees bare up to the very tojjs.
The salmon were in the pools lying,
In the centre of the frozen flags of ice ;
The well-sown seed [grass ?] of every land without growing.
And birds did not bring forth young through dismay.
Since our chief has gone to his grave, there exists
Highway violence, the opposition to every good act ;
And from the fruits of the bountiful land
Little has l)een obtained on account of his departure.
By the death of the mild Cormac, son of Art,
Ireland was without consolation,
Constantly lamenting him throughout the territories,
And there was deep anguish throughout Ireland.
Flathri, son of Fitheall, put on record
The dispositions and good acts
Of the grandson of Conn after his death,
As he obtained a share of his Royal Bounty.