In early May 1915, shortly after losing a friend in Ypres during World War 1, a Canadian doctor, Lt Col John McCrae was inspired by the sight of poppies that were growing in the bleak and battered landscape of war to write a now famous poem called 'In Flanders Fields'. It has become a poem that is symbolic of remembrance the world over...
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.
