This is Remembrance Day in Canada. The poppy is the symbol of remembrance of war dead in Canada and countries of the commonwealth, and its origin is from a poem by Major John McCrae, a doctor in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. It was written in the middle of the second Battle of Ypres, Belgium, in May 1915. Even though today’s wars and peacekeeping operations are not fought in the trenches and mud, this poem still holds great currency.
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae
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.
To those who have served and are serving now, at home and abroad: thank you so very very much.
To the memory of JSR, my dad, who served in WWI and WWII.
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae
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.
To those who have served and are serving now, at home and abroad: thank you so very very much.
To the memory of JSR, my dad, who served in WWI and WWII.
