The poems of Ossian &c. containing the Poetical Works of James Macpherson, Esq. in prose and rhyme: with notes and illustrations by Malcolm Laing. In two volumes |
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 | The poems of Ossian |  |
506
CANTO VIII.
Now past a child, yet an imperfect man,
With youthful limbs through mossy heaths I ran;
Exulting in the vernal pride of years,
Forgot misfortune and my childish tears;
From twanging strings began let fly the dart,
Or with the winged ball arrest the hart;
The flying chace with supple joints pursue,
Or gird the forest with the hunter's crew;
To wholesome sports gave all my youthful mind,
Gain on the youths, and leave the youths behind.
The senior saw his son outstrip the whole,
And gladness brightens the time-laden soul.
Thus when some country sees her son afar
Extend her arms, and urge the prosperous war,
Exulting thoughts each generous soul elate,
And gladness looks around with joy complete.
With youthful limbs through mossy heaths I ran;
Exulting in the vernal pride of years,
Forgot misfortune and my childish tears;
From twanging strings began let fly the dart,
Or with the winged ball arrest the hart;
The flying chace with supple joints pursue,
Or gird the forest with the hunter's crew;
To wholesome sports gave all my youthful mind,
Gain on the youths, and leave the youths behind.
The senior saw his son outstrip the whole,
And gladness brightens the time-laden soul.
Thus when some country sees her son afar
Extend her arms, and urge the prosperous war,
Exulting thoughts each generous soul elate,
And gladness looks around with joy complete.
Soon as Aurora faintly promised day,
And mountains hood their tops in dusky gray,
The narrow vales and steepy rocks resound
With shouts inciting on the faithful hound.
The fleeting tribe devour the heathy way,
Vanish along, and rouse the lurking prey.
The timid prey to every quarter fly,
Skim o'er the heath, and leave the aching eye.
The branching stag, and lightly-bounding roe,
Stretch o'er the field, and pant before the foe:
The gasping hind the cooling flood relieves,
One death she flies, another death receives;
In vain attempts to leave the liquid tide,
The nimble foe awaits on every side:
Long floating, wearied, sinks in watery death,
And spirts the foam with her departing breath.
Increased the day, the branchy nation fall,
Or torn by dogs, or winged by the ball.
Stag falls on stag, hound lacerates with hound,
And bloody torrents smoke along the ground.
And mountains hood their tops in dusky gray,
507
With shouts inciting on the faithful hound.
The fleeting tribe devour the heathy way,
Vanish along, and rouse the lurking prey.
The timid prey to every quarter fly,
Skim o'er the heath, and leave the aching eye.
The branching stag, and lightly-bounding roe,
Stretch o'er the field, and pant before the foe:
The gasping hind the cooling flood relieves,
One death she flies, another death receives;
In vain attempts to leave the liquid tide,
The nimble foe awaits on every side:
Long floating, wearied, sinks in watery death,
And spirts the foam with her departing breath.
Increased the day, the branchy nation fall,
Or torn by dogs, or winged by the ball.
Stag falls on stag, hound lacerates with hound,
And bloody torrents smoke along the ground.
The radiant lord of day his glory shrouds,
And hides his beamy head in sable clouds;
Rough-murmuring blasts along the mountains howl,
And sable darkness quenched the glowing pole:
Thick-gathered mists enwrap the mountains o'er,
And hoarse-voiced thunders roughly rumbling roar.
Red lightnings dart in awful streams of light,
Flash through the gloom, and vanish from the sight.
Engaged the warring elements resound,
Rain batters earth, and smokes along the ground.
Down the steep hill the headlong torrent groans,
Drives trees uprooted, rocks and rattling stones.
Nought can resist: earth from her caverns rung;
The flood spreads on the vale, and turbid rolls along.
And hides his beamy head in sable clouds;
Rough-murmuring blasts along the mountains howl,
And sable darkness quenched the glowing pole:
Thick-gathered mists enwrap the mountains o'er,
And hoarse-voiced thunders roughly rumbling roar.
Red lightnings dart in awful streams of light,
Flash through the gloom, and vanish from the sight.
Engaged the warring elements resound,
Rain batters earth, and smokes along the ground.
Down the steep hill the headlong torrent groans,
Drives trees uprooted, rocks and rattling stones.
Nought can resist: earth from her caverns rung;
The flood spreads on the vale, and turbid rolls along.
Bewildered in the dark diurnal night,
Hood-winked with clouds, and with uncertain light,
I ply the moist uncomfortable way,
And errant, through the shaggy mountains stray.
My friends, my fellows, I incessant cry;
In the rough blast my words half-uttered die.
My friends I call, my words in wind are lost;
And nought is heard but the shrill-whistling blast.
From heath to heath, from hill to hill, I roam
In vain, researching for my humble home.
When on the howling wild, black rained the night,
And from my eyes erased the glimmering light.
Athwart the gloom the sparkling meteor sails
With livid glories and volcanian trails.
The dire portents my youthful soul affright,
And kindle horrors in the womb of night.
Aghast, immoveable, I shivering stood,
Cold horror trembled through my freezing blood.
While a soft voice invades my trembling ear,
My soul is charmed, and listened in my fear.
'Twixt every blast is heard the pleasing sound,
Then in the howling hurricane is drowned.
Hood-winked with clouds, and with uncertain light,
508
And errant, through the shaggy mountains stray.
My friends, my fellows, I incessant cry;
In the rough blast my words half-uttered die.
My friends I call, my words in wind are lost;
And nought is heard but the shrill-whistling blast.
From heath to heath, from hill to hill, I roam
In vain, researching for my humble home.
When on the howling wild, black rained the night,
And from my eyes erased the glimmering light.
Athwart the gloom the sparkling meteor sails
With livid glories and volcanian trails.
The dire portents my youthful soul affright,
And kindle horrors in the womb of night.
Aghast, immoveable, I shivering stood,
Cold horror trembled through my freezing blood.
While a soft voice invades my trembling ear,
My soul is charmed, and listened in my fear.
'Twixt every blast is heard the pleasing sound,
Then in the howling hurricane is drowned.
Led by the voice, I cheerful mete the way;
Swells on the ear the soft-approaching lay.
Charmed, I advanced, astonished I survey
Dart through a rocky chink a livid ray.
Inward I peeped, a lovely maid is seen,
Trip through the cave in robes of sprightly green:
White is her skin, her cheeks are rosy red;
Soft wave behind the honours of her head.
Ennobled features due respect command,
And blazed a taper in her snowy hand:
Swifter than wind the fleeting vision glides
Athwart the cave, and swims on airy tides.
The sport of every blast the vision reels,
Nor touched the earth with lightly-bounding heels.
Swells on the ear the soft-approaching lay.
Charmed, I advanced, astonished I survey
Dart through a rocky chink a livid ray.
Inward I peeped, a lovely maid is seen,
Trip through the cave in robes of sprightly green:
White is her skin, her cheeks are rosy red;
Soft wave behind the honours of her head.
Ennobled features due respect command,
And blazed a taper in her snowy hand:
Swifter than wind the fleeting vision glides
Athwart the cave, and swims on airy tides.
509
Nor touched the earth with lightly-bounding heels.
Thus, in a splendid day, or lunar night,
Assembled boys let fly the towering kite;
The beardless youths extatic leap with joy,
While it ascends and flutters in the sky.
Assembled boys let fly the towering kite;
The beardless youths extatic leap with joy,
While it ascends and flutters in the sky.
With sprightly air the phantom beauty sings
Exploits of fairies and of phantom kings;
The vows of youths, the enamoured virgin's care,
And all the soft deceits of shifting fear.
Charmed with the lay, yet freezed with dumb surprise,
I staring stood, and scarce believed my eyes.
Doubtful advancing to enjoy the light,
Or glide, retreating, to the womb of night,
I reasoned long in my revolving breast,
At length my soul, half muttering, thus expressed:
Exploits of fairies and of phantom kings;
The vows of youths, the enamoured virgin's care,
And all the soft deceits of shifting fear.
Charmed with the lay, yet freezed with dumb surprise,
I staring stood, and scarce believed my eyes.
Doubtful advancing to enjoy the light,
Or glide, retreating, to the womb of night,
I reasoned long in my revolving breast,
At length my soul, half muttering, thus expressed:
Behind, rough rushes night with thundering storms,
And awful light the gloomy sky deforms;
Before, a calm recess attracts the view,
Where fainting nature may her strength renew.
What though there glides within a feeble mind,
An empty phantom, or a puff of wind?
By fancy formed; to life restrain your flight,
Nor fly a shade and perish in the night.
Confirmed, advancing, O! whose noble birth
Descends from more than men the worms of earth;
O be propitious, nymph! I suppliant said,
And to the wanderer lend thy timely aid;
Rest here my limbs until returning day
Instruct the path, and point the ranger's way.
And awful light the gloomy sky deforms;
Before, a calm recess attracts the view,
Where fainting nature may her strength renew.
What though there glides within a feeble mind,
An empty phantom, or a puff of wind?
By fancy formed; to life restrain your flight,
Nor fly a shade and perish in the night.
Confirmed, advancing, O! whose noble birth
Descends from more than men the worms of earth;
O be propitious, nymph! I suppliant said,
And to the wanderer lend thy timely aid;
Rest here my limbs until returning day
Instruct the path, and point the ranger's way.
I suppliant said—the vision thus replies,
And bends aside her beauty-sparkling eyes.
A youth, descended from the blood of great,
Lost to himself, to honour, and to state,
Long Grampus shall ascend your arduous brows,
And with the winged death arrest the roes;
At length, bewildered in the sable night,
Led by a voice and feeble ray of light,
Shall, undesigning, learn approaching fate,
And mount from knowledge to the arms of state.
Hard is the ascent, but, oh! how seeming light,
When honour tempts thee to the world polite!
And bends aside her beauty-sparkling eyes.
A youth, descended from the blood of great,
Lost to himself, to honour, and to state,
Long Grampus shall ascend your arduous brows,
And with the winged death arrest the roes;
510
Led by a voice and feeble ray of light,
Shall, undesigning, learn approaching fate,
And mount from knowledge to the arms of state.
Hard is the ascent, but, oh! how seeming light,
When honour tempts thee to the world polite!
The phantom said, while to my wondering eyes
Green prospects spread, and varied scenes arise.
A spacious field, to limits unconfined,
Spreads every way, and leaves the eye behind.
Ten thousand through its spacious windings stray;
Ten thousand walk, and each a different way:
They ceaseless ply their errors, void of rest;
Each cursed his way, but calls his way the best.
Scoffs, murmurs, accusations, causeless fear,
And desperate voices thunder on the ear.
Green prospects spread, and varied scenes arise.
A spacious field, to limits unconfined,
Spreads every way, and leaves the eye behind.
Ten thousand through its spacious windings stray;
Ten thousand walk, and each a different way:
They ceaseless ply their errors, void of rest;
Each cursed his way, but calls his way the best.
Scoffs, murmurs, accusations, causeless fear,
And desperate voices thunder on the ear.
Full in the centre of the spreading ground,
With sloping sides, arose a virid mound:
Easy the ascents at distance seem to rise;
A nearer view disclosed the slippery ice.
Glad on the top a maid of winning charms,
Courts from below with snowy-spreading arms;
Her rosy cheeks are dimpled o'er with smiles,
And with one wink the hapless she beguiles.
Up the steep hill ten thousand lovers crawl,
And on the point of bless they headlong fall.
Again, again the glittering steep they ply;
Again they fall, again they quivering lie.
But some more happy gain the arduous brow,
And giggle scoffs upon their mates below.
By the gay maid in splendid garments clad,
And laurels planted on the towering head:
Thus for a moment they majestic reign,
The envy of their rivals on the plain.
With sloping sides, arose a virid mound:
Easy the ascents at distance seem to rise;
A nearer view disclosed the slippery ice.
Glad on the top a maid of winning charms,
Courts from below with snowy-spreading arms;
Her rosy cheeks are dimpled o'er with smiles,
And with one wink the hapless she beguiles.
Up the steep hill ten thousand lovers crawl,
And on the point of bless they headlong fall.
Again, again the glittering steep they ply;
Again they fall, again they quivering lie.
But some more happy gain the arduous brow,
And giggle scoffs upon their mates below.
By the gay maid in splendid garments clad,
And laurels planted on the towering head:
Thus for a moment they majestic reign,
The envy of their rivals on the plain.
With swelling cheeks, and vengeance-flaming eyes,
I saw a ghastly form terrific rise:
Thy offspring, hell! her ever-moving tongue
Rolls infamy, thy sluggish stream, along;
Pregnant with ill, she heaves her rolling breast;
For ever stare her eyes devoid of rest:
Her poison-churning jaws divide with rage,
She puffs and hurls them trembling off the stage.
The raging fury bangs the flying throng,
Roars on the rear, and sweeps the wretch'd along.
Nor ceased the pest, till in the flood beneath,
Deep, silent, sable stream, they sunk in death.
The foul-voiced noise begins to melt away,
The ghastly fury feels a swift decay,
And vanish; lo! a new succession rose;
It falls, another on its ruins grows.
I saw a ghastly form terrific rise:
511
Rolls infamy, thy sluggish stream, along;
Pregnant with ill, she heaves her rolling breast;
For ever stare her eyes devoid of rest:
Her poison-churning jaws divide with rage,
She puffs and hurls them trembling off the stage.
The raging fury bangs the flying throng,
Roars on the rear, and sweeps the wretch'd along.
Nor ceased the pest, till in the flood beneath,
Deep, silent, sable stream, they sunk in death.
The foul-voiced noise begins to melt away,
The ghastly fury feels a swift decay,
And vanish; lo! a new succession rose;
It falls, another on its ruins grows.
Thus in the circle of the rolling year,
Fierce winter blasts, and vernal showers uprear
The flowery field; here drops the blushing rose,
There from the withered stem another grows:
Flower grows on flower, and stem succeeds on stem,
For ever different, but appear the same.
Fierce winter blasts, and vernal showers uprear
The flowery field; here drops the blushing rose,
There from the withered stem another grows:
Flower grows on flower, and stem succeeds on stem,
For ever different, but appear the same.
| The poems of Ossian | |