Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Armistice Day

My dad was a schoolboy during World War I, and In Flanders Fields was a poem he and his classmates learned and recited at school. When I was a kid, he used to recite it sometimes on Armistice Day.

In Flanders Fields
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918), Canadian Army

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. 

2 comments:

Jonathan Badger said...

I lived in Canada from 1999 to 2003 and remember this poem because part of it is quoted on the Canadian $10 bill.

Rebecca Clayton said...

Wow! Poetry on money--what an artistically aware country! Thanks for stopping by, Jonathan!