The Guns of August

[caddyman]

Ninety years ago today, General Georg von der Marwitz and his cavalry crossed the Belgian border, and the Great War, the 'war to end all wars' began.

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.

Comments

[fromaway.livejournal.com]

Every Canadian schoolchild learns that one. Is it well known in the U.K.?

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Reasonably well known, I'd say.

It gets an annual airing on Armistice Day when they drop the poppy petals.

[winterdrake.livejournal.com]

I've spoken that one several times, along with quite a lot of other war poetry. It still sends shivers down my spine. The whisper-soft chill of 'we shall not sleep...'...

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I have not read this poem for years, and now I remember why.

It makes something in me cry.

[barrettyman.livejournal.com]

I visited the flanders fields a few years back and it is exceptionally moving. Lest We Forget