Monday, May 25, 2015

A One Hundred Year Old Poem Commemorates Memorial Day


On this Memorial Day, 2015, I'd like to share a poem from the WWI era. Short but with a strong message, In Flander's Fields has survived for a full century.The author was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier who died near the end of WWI of pneumonia.

To visit the National WWI Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, vistors cross a glass bridge which spans a field of poppies below. A moving tribute, to be sure.

In Flanders Fields
John McCrae, 1915.
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. 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

No Fee, No Pay! Hmmm!

  H U H? I was skimming through a lengthy list of journals whose closing dates were looming. Many were published at universities, some were ...