Today is Veteran’s Day in the US, and Remembrance Day in Canada and the UK. The following poem was written by Canadian John McCrae, who served as an army surgeon in The Great War. He wrote it in May 1915, while overlooking a cemetery near Ypres, in Belgium, after the death of a friend. In and around the cemetery had sprung up many wild poppies, which were moving in the gentle breeze. It is recited at services across Canada on this day.
In Flanders Fields
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.
Lest We Forget…
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