The cause of my sorrow is come,
This year has not prospered with me;
Foolish who cannot understand
How my grief has on me come;
He who cannot understand
How my grief has come at once;
Since these wounds my body got,
Such wounds I’ve got I mourn.
Pleasant now, though bitter too,
To mourn my sad distress;
Sorrow fills my inmost heart,
Great was my love for him who’s gone;
My heart is broken in twain,
No wonder it should be so;
My body has neither flesh nor blood,
Like a strengthless sufferer.
’Tis no wonder if I so grieve
For Margaret’s[264] son who now is gone,
Remembering all his virtues,
And that chiefless we are left.
Sore is the loss that he is gone,
Now that in the world we’re weak,
My grief now that thy days are ended,
Is the injury done by Angus.[265]
Though it be hard for me to part
With John’s[266] son of sweetest speech,
What is worst of all is this,
That ne’er to his place he’ll return.
Though I were from happiness far,
Pursued by my foes’ reproach,
Whatever good might me o’ertake,
From them never would I buy.
No wonder though heavy my heart,
As another lord’s seen in thy place,
That my whole man should be feeble,
Now that my king is dead.
Bitter is my pain since he left,
’Tis easy the tale to relate,
’Tis hard my great sorrow to bear,
For the hero so famous who’s gone.
Great is my grief, and no wonder,
My mourning is true, sincere;
That which sorely has me pained,
Is that in Albin we’ve no race.[267]
Now since that I must leave,
As others with reproach me load,
Since he is dead, I fain would go,
Away from the rough isles of Albin.
Yet ’tis sore for me to leave,
Although I feel that go I must,
Now that my beloved is dead,
My country I must leave behind.
Last of all, what grieves me is,
And truly the cause is enough,
That my beloved will not return,
To Islay on this side of Innis.[268]
And then, besides, it is so sad,
That this during his time should come,
Wringing hearts, and bodies rending,
Without revenge being in our power.
No men on earth could think
How ready he was foes to crush,
’Twas nothing both for us and thee
That champions should come against us.
But thy foes now have pierced thee,
Pity we had not with thee died,
Fair-handed, sweet-voiced son of Mary,
That we should have none to help.
He of the fairest countenance,
Our loss is not to follow him.
All the fame thou didst enjoy,
Was such as to thy race belonged,
They who had the long curled locks,
Whose company men loved much.
Now their hearts are sore depressed,
Every comfort poor without thee.
’Twould be hard to find one like me,
And that from my lord I had,
The fellowship of priests and poets;
These are plenty, but his hand absent.
When others to the banquet go,
Of the honour my share is this,
Ever to mourn in grief unchanged,
And of sorrow drink my fill.
’Tis sad for me I do not follow,
Much his absence do we grieve;
And then o’er that which makes me mourn,
Many the other men who weep.
Many the men before our time,
Who by sorrow were brought low;
And what I’ve said does find its proof,
In a tale I’ve told before.
“I’ve heard a tale of old,” etc.[269]
_As follows in another place._
The fellow of this noble man,
Foster-son of Caoimh and Conull.
[263] It has been said in a previous note that nothing is known of
this poet. But the present composition would indicate his being one
of the celebrated Beatons, physicians and sennachies to the Lords of
the Isles. There is a charter of lands in Islay, written in Gaelic by
Fergus Beaton in 1411. There were several of the family whose name was
Gilliecallum. “Mac an Olaimh ” means _son of the physician_.
[264] Margaret Livingstone, daughter of Sir Alexander Livingstone,
married to Alexander Lord of the Isles.
[265] Angus Og, son of John last Lord of the Isles, who fought the
battle of the Bloody Bay against his father.
[266] John, son of Alexander Lord of the Isles.
[267] Both John and Angus, sons of the last Lord of the Isles, died
before their father. He was forfeited, and died in a monastery in
Paisley.
[268] This word is spelled “Eithnis,” and “Einis,” and “Enis.” It is
translated _Angus_ and _Innis_. But it is difficult to decide which
it means; probably “Inis” in Ulster, where the Lords of the Isles had
extensive possessions.
[269] See above, p. 50.