Keppoch song

2G A KEPPOCH SONG, canto i.
What val'rous acts each chief displays.
Recorded in the minstrel's lays ;
What heroes fall, what chiefs resign,
The fleeting breath, their fathers join;
How long' Bellona's voice prolongs
The bloody strife, death's region throngs;
What widows, orphans, maidens mourn ;
Depriv'd of sons, from lovers torn ;
In the wild mountains forc'd to hide
Their unshelter'd heads, th' storms abide;
How many of my friends I lose:
How bards their vigils sadly close:
Here let me now that strain forbear,
For who can sing in Ossian's sphere?
The Danes at length strongholds do build
From our attacks themselves to shield ;
With maids Hibernian do unite,
Thus they slack our arduous fight:
My strength much spent, to peace I heark,
My surviving friends I embark;
And hie me home to mine own shore,
There relatives their loss deplore.
Enough of life the hero cries,
When he in manhood's glory dies:
The bards do in the heroine's ear
Recite the deed—- she dries the tear.