Elegy to Captain Ferguson
News has come to us from teh sea with an east wind from the Minch — may the news not turn back; may a different tale not come afterwards:
Captain Ferguson and his ship under the constant fury of the waves — every one to whom it is a cuase of grief, may thre be a thorn in his eye to the back of his head!
Rueval said in a high voice, "If he made the descent so steep, he will not get away like Jonah if he is inside a whale or a seal.
"In many a country did he raise smoke, many a cheerful hall did he lay waste. Light would I deem a large mill-stone as an anchor to keep him down.
"The venomous boar that would not grant mercy, who showed his hand in slaughter and murder, 'tis joy to me that the brain-pan of thy bald head is being chewed in the whale's maw.
"Where evil is requited to every bad man who passes over, the amount in excess which thou didst give, thou shalt receive that amount back in return.
"Happy are they in that land yonder since thou didst betake thy head under the sea; light would they deem Cruachan of Peaks, seeing it in a heap on the top of thee."
Said great Eaval of the mist, "That were not joy to me; higher is thy juice than thy flesh since the day thou didst sink to the bottom."
Said wild, hunched-backed, bent Teach an Triubhais of deer and wedders, "Wholly hast thou left they senses; long has thy hoary head been given to evil."
Then it was that South Lee said, "Want o'ertake thee, witless wife, there is not one mountain in the world that will lament him but thyself."
Then it wsa that Ben MacVurich said, "Let me hear thee weeping for him now. Lamenting is not the same as reviling — let them lament him and I'll revile him.
"Twas down younder that there dwelt those who sweetly made the lays; they died in peace — that plague was not there in their day.
"I knew Neil Mor, Donald Gearr, and good Neil his son, from another Donald to Neil — in your lore I took delight."
Captain Ferguson and his ship under the constant fury of the waves — every one to whom it is a cuase of grief, may thre be a thorn in his eye to the back of his head!
Rueval said in a high voice, "If he made the descent so steep, he will not get away like Jonah if he is inside a whale or a seal.
"In many a country did he raise smoke, many a cheerful hall did he lay waste. Light would I deem a large mill-stone as an anchor to keep him down.
"The venomous boar that would not grant mercy, who showed his hand in slaughter and murder, 'tis joy to me that the brain-pan of thy bald head is being chewed in the whale's maw.
"Where evil is requited to every bad man who passes over, the amount in excess which thou didst give, thou shalt receive that amount back in return.
"Happy are they in that land yonder since thou didst betake thy head under the sea; light would they deem Cruachan of Peaks, seeing it in a heap on the top of thee."
Said great Eaval of the mist, "That were not joy to me; higher is thy juice than thy flesh since the day thou didst sink to the bottom."
Said wild, hunched-backed, bent Teach an Triubhais of deer and wedders, "Wholly hast thou left they senses; long has thy hoary head been given to evil."
Then it was that South Lee said, "Want o'ertake thee, witless wife, there is not one mountain in the world that will lament him but thyself."
Then it wsa that Ben MacVurich said, "Let me hear thee weeping for him now. Lamenting is not the same as reviling — let them lament him and I'll revile him.
"Twas down younder that there dwelt those who sweetly made the lays; they died in peace — that plague was not there in their day.
"I knew Neil Mor, Donald Gearr, and good Neil his son, from another Donald to Neil — in your lore I took delight."
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