In Hebrid Seas.
LATER GAELIC
We turned her prow into the sea,
Her stern into the shore,
And first we raised the tall tough masts,
And then the canvas hoar;
Fast filled our towering cloud-like sails,
For the wind came from the land,
And such a wind as we might choose
Were the winds at our command:
A breeze that rushing down the hill
Would strip the blooming heather,
Or, rustling through the green-clad grove,
Would whirl its leaves together.
But when it seized the aged saugh,
With the light locks of grey,
It tore away its ancient root,
And there the old trunk lay!
It raised the thatch too from the roof,
And scattered it along;
Then tossed and whirled it through the air,
Singing a pleasant song.
It heaped the ruins on the land:
Though sire and son stood by
They could no help afford, but gaze
With wan and troubled eye!
A flap, a flash, the green roll dashed,
And laughed against the red;
Upon our boards, now here, now there,
It knocked its foamy head.
The dun bowed whelk in the abyss,
As on the galley bore,
Gave a tap upon her gunwale
And a slap upon her floor.
She could have split a slender straw—
So clean and well she went—
As still obedient to the helm
Her stately course she bent.
We watched the big beast eat the small—
The small beast nimbly fly,
And listened to the plunging eels—
The sea-gull’s clang on high.
We had no other music
To cheer us on our way:
Till round those sheltering hills we passed
And anchored in this bay.
Cumha Ghriogair Mhic Griogair.
(The Lament of Gregor MacGregor.)
LATER GAELIC
Early on a Lammas morning,
With my husband was I gay;
But my heart got sorely wounded
Ere the middle of the day.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri
Though I cry, my child, with thee—
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri,
Now he hears not thee nor me!
Malison on judge and kindred,
They have wrought me mickle woe;
With deceit they came about us,—
Through deceit they laid him low.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
Had they met but twelve MacGregors,
With my Gregor at their head;
Now my child had not been orphaned,
Nor these bitter tears been shed.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
On an oaken block they laid him,
And they spilt his blood around;
I’d have drunk it in a goblet
Largely, ere it reached the ground.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
Would my father then had sickened—
Colin, with the plague been ill;
Though Rory’s daughter, in her anguish,
Smote her palms, and cried her fill.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
I could Colin shut in prison,
And black Duncan put in ward,—
Every Campbell now in Bealach,
Bind with handcuffs, close and hard.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
When I reached the plain of Bealach,
I got there no rest, nor calm;
But my hair I tore in pieces,—
Wore the skin from off each palm!
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
Oh! could I fly up with the skylark—
Had I Gregor’s strength in hand;
The highest stone that’s in yon castle
Should lie lowest on the land.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
Would I saw Finlarig blazing,
And the smoke of Bealach smelled,
So that fair, soft-handed Gregor
In these arms once more I held.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
While the rest have all got lovers
Now a lover have I none;
My fair blossom, fresh and fragrant,
Withers on the ground alone.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
While all other wives the night-time
Pass in slumber’s balmy bands,
I upon my bedside weary,
Never cease to wring my hands.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
For, far better be with Gregor
Where the heather’s in its prime,
Than with mean and Lowland barons
In a house of stone and lime.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
Greatly better be with Gregor
In a mantle rude and torn,
Than with little Lowland barons
Where fine silk and lace are worn.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
Though it rained and roared together,
All throughout the stormy day,
Gregor, in a crag, could find me
A kind shelter where to stay.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri, etc.
Bahu, bahu, little nursling—
Oh! so tender now and weak;
I fear the day will never brighten
When revenge for him you’ll seek.
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri,
Though I cry, my child, with thee—
Ochan, ochan, ochan uiri,
Yet he hears not thee nor me!