Ossian Collection > Ossian, his principal poems

I^pptiibir.
ODE TO OS SI AN.*
Imagination ! mighty power,
Where dost thou guide my roving mind ?
Bj time, by distance unconfin'd.
On Fancy's rapid wings I fly
To Morven's coast, where mountains tower,
And break the clouds that roll on high.
Before my view the dark Ijrown heath extends,
From reed-crown'd lakes the creeping mists exhale,
Down the rock bursting, the rude stream descends,
And foams along the solitary vale.
Cona, thy waters murmur in my ear !
Selma, thy halls unfold !
There sits Fingal !— the chiefs of old
Gaze on the ruler of the war.
One vaunts his prowess in the field,
Another lifts his riven shield,
Or shews the deep-indented scar.
* This ode was composed by Mr. Holl the translator of Fingal,
and published in 1772. It immediately arrested the notice of the
world and was eagerly and justly applauded.