Places > Loyal Lewis roll of honour, 1914 and after

8 "LOYAL LEWIS.'
remains that those who never come back have laid down
their lives in one of the greatest causes in the history of
mankind. Let us at home have an unflinching faith in
certainty of a triumphant issue to this stupendous struggle,
and do our part, however humble, with a deep sense of
personal obligation. There is a direct and very telling
appropriateness at this moment in the words of a real
poet : —
"Say not, the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars ;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light ;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly !
But westward, look, the land is bright!"
— C lough.
With this beautiful and inspiring vision of ultimate
victory the Roll may fitly open.
As a last word let the hope be expressed that the sons
and daughters of the Island at home and abroad will unite
in erecting a worthy and permanent local memorial and
cenotaph to their countrymen who have suffered and died
for their sakes in a noble cause.
J. L. R.
Stornoway, August, 1915.