Memorial

Today I took the ferry from Rossaveal to Inis Mór (Big Island) the biggest of the Aran Islands. Unfortunately, the rain began just as we reached the island, but I came prepared so I went out for a walk anyway. I came across this memorial to those lost at sea (an ever present and unfortunate reality for people who live on an island and make their living from the sea is that there will be lives lost at sea). The poem is written in Irish (Gaeilge) which is still spoken by many on the islands. It is a translation of a verse from a WW1 poem by Robert Binyon called "For the fallen" that goes :

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

This verse always makes me feel tearful, but it is very appropriate for this memorial.