28 May 2010

Memorial Day


The Good Soldier by Michael Janis
2005, fused glass powder imagery


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.


"In Flanders Fields" is one of the most notable poems written about World War 1. Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote it in May 1915, after he witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, 22 years old, the day before.


In 1918, inspired by the poem, Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.


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