Scottish island mum very much wants to take her place beside the millions of people who will be saying thank you today. 100 years ago today we entered a war that should have ended all wars but history revealed that was not to be the case. Four long years of fighting finally delivered the victory that secured our way of life. The sense of freedom that was preserved has been tested since but no other test witnessed the scale of loss and heartache endured by the soldiers and their families from the First World War.
In 1914 Rupert Brooke penned this poem –
Peace
Now, God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour,
And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping,
With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power,
To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping,
Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary,
Leave the sick hearts that honour could not move,
And half-men, and their dirty songs and dreary,
And all the little emptiness of love!
Oh! we, who have known shame, we have found release there,
Where there’s no ill, no grief, but sleep has mending,
Naught broken save this body, lost but breath;
Nothing to shake the laughing heart’s long peace there
But only agony, and that has ending;
And the worst friend and enemy is but Death.
At the beginning of the war people believed it would be over by Christmas…..
By 1918 Wildfred Owen wrote this poem –
Arms and the boy
Scottish island mum begins a few weeks of showcasing creative memorial works made by a small group of ladies who want to leave their personal thank you legacy in their family. With no living personnel alive now it seems even more important to say thank you. So Project Poppy will do this that.
Work by Sue Forey, Di Harris & Fiona Doubleday
Each piece will be profiled in full over the coming weeks.
We can all take some time out of our lives to come together by one single candle light and say thank you. This evening at 10pm all lights should be extinguished save for a single candle flame. In the next hour we will stand together and give our deepest thanks to all those who lost so much so we live a free life.
More details on the special hour can be found HERE.
I would like to end with my own personal tribute –
‘It is in this thinking that I feel most humble. It is in these images that I feel most pain. It is in this gratitude that I feel most sorrow. To all that gave so much – I salute you.’
Speak soon. xx
