Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/212

172 Though cataracts foam 'stead of smooth-flowing fountains,

I sigh for the valley of dark Loch na Garr.

2.

Ah! there my young footsteps in infancy, wander'd:

My cap was the bonnet, my cloak was the plaid;

On chieftains, long perish'd, my memory ponder'd,

As daily I strode through the pine-cover'd glade;

I sought not my home, till the day's dying glory

Gave place to the rays of the bright polar star;

For fancy was cheer'd, by traditional story,

Disclos'd by the natives of dark Loch na Garr.

3.

"Shades of the dead! have I not heard your voices

Rise on the night-rolling breath of the gale?"

Surely, the soul of the hero rejoices,

And rides on the wind, o'er his own Highland vale!

Round Loch na Garr, while the stormy mist gathers,

Winter presides in his cold icy car:

Clouds, there, encircle the forms of my Fathers;

They dwell in the tempests of dark Loch na Garr.

4.

"Ill starr'd, though brave, did no visions foreboding

Tell you that fate had forsaken your cause?"