Ossian Collection > Ossian, his principal poems

282 THE SONGS OF SELMA.
To no fond son descends thy treasur'd famO;
Yet shall the song preserve thj living name
The shining record every age shall see,
And time's last ftilt'ring accents tell of thee.
The grief of all arose, ])ut most the bursting sigh of
Armin.^ He remembers the death of his son, who fell in
the days of his youth. Carmorf was near the hero, the chief
of the echoing Galmal. Why bursts the sigh of Armin ? he
said. Is there a cause to mourn ? The song comes, with
its music, to melt and please the soul. It is like soft mist,
that, rising from a lake, pours on the silent vale ; the green
flowers are filled with dew, but the sun returns in his
strength, and the mist is gone. Why art thou sad, Armin,
chief of the sea surrounded Gorma ?
THE LAMENT OF ARMIN.
Sad ! I am sad indeed, my tears still flow ;
Years linger on, nor small my cause of woe ;
Carmor, you lost no son, — brave Colgar lives ;
Daughter of beauty, Annir still survives ;
Carmor, your name blooms fair, on solid l\ase ;
Armin's the last of his unhappy race.
Autumnal winds ! blow with your fiercest breath.
And Avhistle loud along yon sable heath ;
Streams of the mountains \ roar along the rock ;
Speak, tempests ! in the proud top of the oak ;
Swift through the broken clouds, O moon, walk jmle.
And gleam at intervals along the vale ;
* Armin, " a hero." He was chief or petty king of Gouma, —
" the blue island," — supposed to be one of the Hebrides,
t Cear-mor, " a tall dark-complexioned man."