Page:Poems - Sayers (1792).djvu/54

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And while my eyes behold this hated light
He still shall live, and still with sullen pleasure
I'll dwell on other times, when all was hope,
When all was love and joy—accursed beauty!
Would that the god of Fura's sacred wood
Had wither'd this fair form—the Saxon then
Had seen and hated me.—Wife?—Harold's wife?—
Yes—'tis a murderer's arm embraces me,
A murderer calls me his, the murderer
Of Carril!—Would this hand———
But hark! the sound of song, the daily greeting
Of aged bards.[1]—

MOINA,

  1. ↑ Bards.] Bards, or Scalds, were usually to be met with among the retainers of the Gothic chiefs: they appear to have officiated as priests, and they contributed to the festivity of their patron's entertainments, by their music and songs: for this they received ample rewards, as we find from many of their odes, in which they praise their lord for his rich presents to them, of robes, steeds, &c. Their verses were chiefly calculated to excite a martial spirit, by celebrating the glorious deeds of the gods and

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