Haiku Reflections: Lest We Forget Them

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Also sharing with this Sunday’s Poetry Pantry at Poets United

Original photo courtesy of Flickr

We Must Never Forget

                                  

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 with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

       

written by Major John McCrae in  May 1915

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PS: No matter how many times I read this poem and through all the years; it always brings tears to my eyes.

Link to the original post.

In Flanders Fields…

 

 

THE RED FLANDERS POPPY

The red Flanders’ poppy was first described as a flower of remembrance by Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918), who was Professor of Medicine at McGill University of Canada before World War One. Colonel McCrae had served as a gunner in the Boer War, but went to France in World War One as a medical Officer with the first Canadian Contingent.

At the second battle of Ypres in 1915, when in charge of a small first-aid post, he wrote in pencil on a page torn from his despatch book:

                                            

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 with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

***

By Major John McCrae, May 1915

Lest We Forget

Remembrance

November’s somber, dark days.

In stark contrast to the brilliant red poppies.

Bring to mind such pain-filled thoughts.

Fields strewn with the bodies of young soldiers.

Spilling life’s blood and forgoing futures.

Giving to us, without question or reward.

The ultimate gift of freedom.

May we never forget.

**

Photo courtesy of: Caroline Brown