X. [It is night]
It is night; and I am alone, forlorn on the hill of storms.
It is night; and I am alone, forlorn on the hill of storms.
The wind is heard in the mountain. The torrent shrieks down
the rock. No hut receives me from the rain; forlorn on the
hill of winds.
Rise, moon! from behind thy clouds; stars of the night, appear!
Lead me, some light, to the place where my love rests
from the toil of the chace! his bow near him, unstrung; his
dogs panting around him. But here I must sit alone, by the
rock of the mossy stream. The stream and the wind roar;
nor can I hear the voice of my love.
Why delayeth my Shalgar, why the son of the hill, his promise?
Here is the rock, and the tree; and here the roaring
stream. Thou promisedst with night to be here. Ah! whither
is my Shalgar gone? With thee I would fly my father; with
thee, my brother of pride. Our race have long been foes; but
we are not foes, O Shalgar!
Cease a little while, O wind! stream, be thou silent a while!
let my voice be heard over the heath; let my wanderer hear
me. Shalgar! it is I who call. Here is the tree, and the rock.
Shalgar, my love! I am here. Why delayest thou thy coming?
Alas! no answer.
Lo! the moon appeareth. The flood is bright in the vale.
The rocks are grey on the face of the hill. But I see him not
on the brow; his dogs before him tell not that he is coming.
Here I must sit alone.
But who are these that lie beyond me on the heath? Are
they my love and my brother? Speak to me O my friends!
they answer not. My soul is tormented with fears. Ah!
they are dead. Their swords are red from the fight. O my
brother! my brother! why hast thou slain my Shalgar? why,
O Shalgar! hast thou slain my brother? Dear were ye both
to me! what shall I say in your praise? Thou wert fair on the
hill among thousands; he was terrible in fight. Speak to me;
hear my voice, sons of my love! But alas! they are silent;
silent for ever! Cold are their breasts of clay!
Oh! from the rock of the hill; from the top of the mountain
of winds, speak, ye ghosts of the dead! speak, and I will
not be afraid. Whither are ye gone to rest? In what cave of
the hill shall I find you? No feeble voice is on the wind: no
answer half-drowned in the storms of the hill.
I sit in my grief. I wait for morning in my tears. Rear the
tomb, ye friends of the dead; but close it not till I come. My
life flieth away like a dream: why should I stay behind? Here
shall I rest with my friends by the stream of the sounding
rock. When night comes on the hill; when the wind is upon
the heath; my ghost shall stand in the wind, and mourn the
death of my friends. The hunter shall hear from his booth.
He shall fear, but love my voice. For sweet shall my voice be
for my friends; for pleasant were they both to me.