National Poetry Month: Day 25

Today Kellie posted on Segullah about ANZAC day; it's not a holiday here in the US, and unfortunately tends to go a bit unnoticed. But I appreciated her post as a reminder that the world is a big place, and as a reminder of a time in history that seems to become the distant past even more each year. Whenever I read this poem to myself I can hear it in Thomas S. Monson's voice; I think that General Conference is when I first remember hearing it.

In Flanders Fields
by 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.

Comments

Earth Sign Mama said…
Every year I teach a series of lessons about Veteran's Day. We learn about WWI, Armistice Day, the Tomb of the Unknowns, etc. etc. We write letters to veteran, which I mail to someone I know in a war zone. We also read this poem and I tell them about my experience of selling poppies for the VFW when I was a high school student. When you show them the photos of the cemeteries in France and Belgium with the thousands of crosses and billowing poppies, the poem is very powerful.
4/25/2012 10:02 PM
Selwyn said…
Poppies play a big part in the ANZAC memorials - people wear them, they are put on graves and on walls, they are printed on pamphlets etc. They are placed on the lists of names at the Australian War Memorial.One day I'll get to Flanders!

Thanks for the month of poetry - I'll be reading them.

Kel
4/27/2012 8:46 PM
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