Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

A P O E M. 75
thy foul ? But thou (landed alone, my father!
who can equal the king of Sclma ?
The night pa (Ted away in long ; morning
returned in joy. The mountains ihewed their
grey heads ; the hlue face of ocean fmiled.
The white wave is feen tumbling round the
diftant rock ; a mid roie, (lowly, from the
lake. Ir came, in the figure of an aged man,
along the filent plain. Its large limbs did not
move in fteps ; for a ghofl fupported it in
mid-air. It came towards Selma's hall, and
diflblved in a fhowerof blood.
The king alone beheld the fight ; he fore-
fa w the death of the people. He came, in
filence, to his hall ; and took his father's fpear.
The mail rattled on his bread. The heroes
rofe around. They looked, in iilence, on each
other, marking the eyes of Fingal. They faw
battle in his face ; the death of armies on
his fpear. A thoufand ihields, at once, are
placed on their arms ; they drew a thoufand
iwords. The hall of Selma brightened around.
The clang of arms afcends. Thq grey dogs
howl in their place. No word is among the
mighty chiefs. Each marked the eyes of the
king ; and half a (Turned his fpear.
Sons of Morven, begun the king, this is
no time to fill the (hell. The battle darkens
near us; death hovers over the land. Some
gholt, the friend of Fingal, has forewarned us
or the foe. The fons of the ftrariger come
from the darkly rolling fea. For, from the
water, came the fign of Morven's gloomy
danger.