So lone a lake, so sweet a strand!

There is no breeze upon the fern,

Nor ripple on the lake,

Upon her eyry nods the erne,[348]

The deer has sought the brake;

The small birds will not sing aloud,

The springing trout lies still,

So darkly glooms yon thunder cloud,

That swathes, as with a purple shroud,

Benledi’s distant hill.