Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

154 OSSIAN
with fear. Rest, in thy shadowy cave, O sun I let thy
return be in joy,
But let a thousand lights arise to the sound of the
harps of Selma ; let the beam spread in the hall, the
king of shells is returned ! The strife of Carun * is past,
like sounds that are no more. Raise the song, O bards!
the king is returned, with his fame !
Such were the words of Ullin, when Fingal returned
from war : when he returned in the fair blushing of
youth, with all his heavy locks. His blue arms were on
the hero : like a light cloud on the sun, when he moves
in his robes of mist, and shows but half his beams. His
heroes follow the king: the feast of shells is spread.
Fingal turns to his bards, and bids the song to rise.
Voices of echoing Cona ! he said, O bards of other
times ! Ye on whose souls the blue hosts of our fathers
rise ! strike the harp in my hall ; and let me hear the
song ! Pleasant is the joy of grief : it is like the shower
of spring, when it softens the branch of the oak, and the
young leaf rears its green head. Sing on, O bards ;
to-morrow we lift the sail. My blue course is through
the ocean, to Carrie -thura's walls ; the mossy walls of
Sarno, where Comala dwelt. There the noble Cathulla
spreads the feast of shells. The boars of his woods are
many ; the sound of the chase shall arise !
Cronnan,t son of the song ! said Ullin. Minona,
graceful at the harp ! raise the tale of Shilric, to please
the king of Morven. Let Vinvela come in her beauty,
* Ossian has celebrated the strife of Crona in a particular
poem. This poem is connected with it, but it was impossible
for the translator to procure that part which relates to Crona
with any degree of purity.
t One should think that the parts of Shilric and Vinvela
were represented by Cronnan and Minona, whose very names
denote that they were singers who performed in public. Cronnan
signifies a mournful sound, Minona, or Min-'onn, soft air. All
the dramatic poems of Ossian appear to have been presented
before Fingal, upon solemn occasions.