OUR HEROIC DEAD.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 14 November 1918, Page 2

OUR HEROIC DEAD.

The following verses were contributed to the " Kia Ora Cooee" by Mrs A. Edwards of Bristol, England. The ladyhas a son serving in Palestine with the A.I.F. :-- Dear comrades who have fallen and will fight with us no more, Who have vindicated, gloriously, the honour of our Corps. You are ' gone but not forgotten,' though still the merry jest Beguiles an idle moment or an interval of rest. When the sun has sunk in splendour and the stars give mystic light, And we keep our lonely vigil through the watches of the night, It is then/" when shadows deepen, that your faces we recall, And again the ' Charge ' is sounded—and again we see you fall! Life in its fairest promise and youth that was bright and gay Were yours, but you gave them freely to the cause that is ours to-day. Such gifts are of priceless value, and will .-■««*«</ shine with a lustre bright In the glorious crown of vict'ry, that is even now in sight. As the tide of the war rolls onvrard \re are borne upon its crest, And must leave you in fair Palestine, to your deep untroubled rest, With its everlasting mountains and its Jordan flowing nigh, And its palm trees gently waving and its blue uncloudy sky. You are cradled in the sunshine—you are sleeping in it still, To the lullaby of nature and the music o the rill, And these voices, sweet and thrilling, wil forever with you stay— Companions of your solitude when we are far away. And when —our cause triumphant, and if kindly Fate decree, We have sailed for ' home and beauty' to our land across the sea, We shall think with pride and pleasure of the glory you have won, And that now, your labours ended, you are sleeping in the sun.

Turn failure into victory Don't let your courage fade, And if you get a lemon Just make the lemon aid.