Ossian's Address to the Sun in "Carthon."

1. 1Oh! thou that roll'st above thy glorious Fire,
2. 2Round as the shield which grac'd my godlike Sire,
3. 3Whence are the beams, O Sun! thy endless blaze,
4. 4Which far eclipse each minor Glory's rays?
5. 5Forth in thy Beauty here thou deign'st to shine!
6. 6Night quits her car, the twinkling stars decline;
7. 7Pallid and cold the Moon descends to cave
8. 8Her sinking beams beneath the Western wave;
9. 9But thou still mov'st alone, of light the Source--
10. 10Who can o'ertake thee in thy fiery course?
11. 11Oaks of the mountains fall, the rocks decay,
12. 12Weighed down with years the hills dissolve away.
13. 13A certain space to yonder Moon is given,
14. 14She rises, smiles, and then is lost in Heaven.
15. 15Ocean in sullen murmurs ebbs and flows,
16. 16But thy bright beam unchanged for ever glows!
17. 17When Earth is darkened with tempestuous skies,
18. 18When Thunder shakes the sphere and Lightning flies,
19. 19Thy face, O Sun, no rolling blasts deform,
20. 20Thou look'st from clouds and laughest at the Storm.
21. 21To Ossian, Orb of Light! thou look'st in vain,
22. 22Nor cans't thou glad his agèd eyes again,
23. 23Whether thy locks in Orient Beauty stream,
24. 24Or glimmer through the West with fainter gleam--
25. 25But thou, perhaps, like me with age must bend;
26. 26Thy season o'er, thy days will find their end,
27. 27No more yon azure vault with rays adorn,
28. 28Lull'd in the clouds, nor hear the voice of Morn.
29. 29Exult, O Sun, in all thy youthful strength!
30. 30Age, dark unlovely Age, appears at length,
31. 31As gleams the moonbeam through the broken cloud
32. 32While mountain vapours spread their misty shroud--
33. 33The Northern tempest howls along at last,
34. 34And wayworn strangers shrink amid the blast.
35. 35Thou rolling Sun who gild'st those rising towers,
36. 36Fair didst thou shine upon my earlier hours!
37. 37I hail'd with smiles the cheering rays of Morn,
38. 38My breast by no tumultuous Passion torn--
39. 39Now hateful are thy beams which wake no more
40. 40The sense of joy which thrill'd my breast before;
41. 41Welcome thou cloudy veil of nightly skies,
42. 42To thy bright canopy the mourner flies:
43. 43Once bright, thy Silence lull'd my frame to rest,
44. 44And Sleep my soul with gentle visions blest;
45. 45Now wakeful Grief disdains her mild controul,
46. 46Dark is the night, but darker is my Soul.
47. 47Ye warring Winds of Heav'n your fury urge,
48. 48To me congenial sounds your wintry Dirge:
49. 49Swift as your wings my happier days have past,
50. 50Keen as your storms is Sorrow's chilling blast;
51. 51To Tempests thus expos'd my Fate has been,
52. 52Piercing like yours, like yours, alas! unseen.