Rejoice, O Sun, while thou art young;
Be glad, thou Prince! while thou art strong!
Old age is dark and void of mirth,
Like faint moon ere her horn she fills;
While looking from the clouds on earth
Where hoary mist skirts cairny hills.
The biting blast with breath of cold
Beats on the traveller weak and old.
It is said that this address, the original of which was supplied to the Highland Society in the year 1801, was well known in the central Highlands early in the eighteenth century. The Rev. Mr Macdiarmid wrote it down from the dictation of an old man in Glenlyon about 1770. It is said that this old man learned it in his youth from people in the same glen before Macpherson was born.
The “Address to the Setting Sun” is given at the beginning of Macpherson’s Carricthura. It consists of eleven lines, and has been a great favourite among the people. The following is a literal translation:—