Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

A P O E M. 327
row came with its found. It pierced the he-
roe's fide. He fell on his echoing (hield. My
foul ftarte'd with fear. 1 ftretched my buckler
over him ; hut my heaving bread was feen t
Cairbar came with his fpear. He beheld Se-
lama's maid. Joy rofe on his dark-brown
face. He ftaycd the lifted fteel. He railed
the tomb of Colla. He brought me weeping
to Selama. He fpoke the words of love, but
my foul was fad. I faw the fhields of my
fathers ; the fword of car-borne Truthil. I
faw the arms of the dead ; the tear was on my
cheek ! Then thou didft come, O Nathos ! and
gloomy Cairbar fled. He fled like the ghoft of
the defert before the morning's beam. His
hoft was not near: and feeble was his arm
againft thy fteel ! Why art thou fad, O Nathos !
faid the lovely daughter of Colla?"
* c I have met,*' replied the hero, " the bat-
tle in my youth. My arm could not lift the
fpear when danger firft arofe. My foul
brightened in the prefence of war, as the green
narrow vale, when the fun pours his ftreamy
beams, before he hides his head in n. florin.
The lonely traveller feels a mournful joy. He
fees the darknefs, that flowly comes. My foul
brightened in danger before I faw Selama's
fair ; before I faw thee, like a ftar, that mines
on the hill, at night : the cloud advances, and
threatens the lovely light ! We are in the land
of foes. The winds have deceived us, Dar-
thula ! The ftrength of our friends is not near,
nor the mountains of Etha. Where (hall I
y 4 find