quite bitter to accept are the repeated setbacks suffered after repeatedly rising, more so if hopes of support attend every rise; but at the slightest lift of bleeding knees, trusted comrades turn out to be the Lavas that deal the blows.   abominable crime is betrayal, more so if the victims made to bear the cross of punishment are the people, who would be nailed in the calvary of their islands. they would pass away naked and be sapped of blood and their last raiments gambled away by alien sentinels.   heinous crime, too, it is of those who keep vigil if they would just bow and weep over the rising number of dead, shut their eyes at prevailing betrayals and by hopelessness be finally defeated.   must we allow the bleeding knees to swell? the mangled bodies to slump? the gasps of breath to run out in final surrender to absurdity- "rise no more that you may not fall?"   in falling, we learn to rise firmly; amid the dark, the light is blinding; in betrayal, we recognize trust ever more.   never can we defy the law of nature, of the march of history- hope abides in hopelessness, flowers grow among the graves; failure holds the promise of victory; the dark night promises the break of dawn!   (E. P.)