Fragments Of Ancient Poetry, Fragment I

SHILRIC, VINVELA.     VINVELA     My love is a son of the hill.     He pursues the flying deer.     His grey dogs are panting     around him; his bow-string sounds in     the wind. Whether by the fount of     the rock, or by the stream of the     mountain thou liest; when the rushes are     nodding with the wind, and the mist     is flying over thee, let me approach     my love unperceived, and see him     from the rock. Lovely I saw thee     first by the aged oak; thou wert returning     tall from the chace; the fairest     among thy friends.     SHILRIC.     What voice is that I hear? that     voice like the summer-wind.--I sit     not by the nodding rushes; I hear not     the fount of the rock. Afar, Vinvela,     afar I go to the wars of Fingal. My     dogs attend me no more. No more     I tread the hill. No more from on     high I see thee, fair-moving by the     stream of the plain; bright as the     bow of heaven; as the moon on the     western wave.     VINVELA.     Then thou art gone, O Shilric!     and I am alone on the hill. The     deer are seen on the brow; void of     fear they graze along. No more they     dread the wind; no more the rustling     tree. The hunter is far removed;     he is in the field of graves. Strangers!     sons of the waves! spare my     lovely Shilric.     SHILRIC.     If fall I must in the field, raise high     my grave, Vinvela. Grey stones, and     heaped-up earth, shall murk me to future     times. When the hunter shall sit by     the mound, and produce his food at     noon, "some warrior rests here," he     will say; and my fame shall live in his     praise. Remember me, Vinvela, when     low on earth I lie!     VINVELA.     Yes!--I will remember thee--indeed     my Shilric will fall. What shall I do,     my love! when thou art gone for ever?     Through these hills I will go at noon: O     will go through the silent heath. There     I will see where often thou sattest returning     from the chace. Indeed, my Shilric     will fall; but I will remember     him.