In Flanders Fields
2009 November 11
by Ian Welsh
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Lt.-Col. John McCrae
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Just to pass it on, Robert Fisk, at his very best http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/armistice-day-the-great-war-and-the-words-we-mustnt-forget-1818092.html
Cpl. Ed Nedeimeir, a veteran of World War One, gave me a collection of poetry from World War One. It is one of my most prized possessions.
I read this earlier today and thought it was one of the most moving poems I’ve read. (In Flanders’ Fields)
In honor of our men and women in uniform past and present, may God Bless You and yours.
Ditto, Patricia.
With special thanks to my cousin, Richard Glenn Schroeder, who gave his life in 1966.
Thank you. That was where my uncle fell in 1916. He and my father both served in the British Army in the First World War. My father received the news as a prisoner of war, and never fully got over it. Every year he would cry for his lost brother during the Remembrance Day service.
That war spawned WW2, Hitler, the Russian revolution and Stalin, as well as a lot of other conflicts, chaos, collapse, and atrocities around the world.
So every year I wear a poppy from the British Legion, and shed a tear for them both, and for the victims and bereaved of every conflict, and long for the day when there won’t be any more war.
The sad thing is how many more will have to die until everyone understands nothing is ever accomplished other than death and destruction?
jo6pac
Thanks Ian and SPK