Ossian Collection > Ossian, his principal poems

IXXXVI APPENDIX TO THE BARDS,
A youth's desire is the desire of wind :
All his essaj's
Are long delays,
No issue can they find !
Away, fond counsellors, away,
No more advice obtrude ;
I'll rather prove
The guidance of blind love ;
To follow you is certainly to stray
On single counsel, tho' unwise is good.
No. 6. Macgregor Rinruara, a Highland Poem.
From the chase on the mountain as I was returning,
By the side of a fountain, Malvina sat mourning ;
To the winds that loud whistled she toid her sad story,
And the valleys re-echoed Macgregor Rinraara.
Like a flash of red lightning o'er the heath came Macara,
More fleet than the roebuck on the lofty Benlara.
where is Macgregor, or where does he wander,
Thou son of Bencalmar, why tarries my lover.
Then a voice of sad sorrow from his bosom resounded.
Low lies your Macgregor, pale, mangled, and wounded.
Overcome with deep slumber to the rock I conveyed him.
When the sons of black Malise to his foes have betrayed him.
As a blast from the mountain soon nips a fresh blossom.
So died the fair bud of fond hope in her bosom.
'' Macgregor, Macgregor," loud echoes resounded.
And the hills rung with pity, — Macgregor is wounded.
Macgregor was lofty, of heroes the wonder,
And his voice roar'd in battle like the sons of bold thunder.*
* A whole chapter describing the qualities of a hero would con-
tain no more than lies in the above two lines, A nugget of gold
may be beaten into a surface of almost any extent ; but leaf gold
is not therefore more valuable than the solid metal.