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.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)
My father and grandfather shared a birthday, May 24. I usually go to visit my father at the cemetery on their birthday but I found myself out of town for most of the day and so I went to the cemetery today for Memorial Day. I placed flags by their headstones and shared a moment of thanks for their military service, that they came home safely and for the military service of everyone else who has ever fought for what this country stands for. I appreciate that there are men and women who are willing to do this. I just wish they didn't have to...
The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plow;
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.
And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
~Eric Bogle
My father and grandfather shared a birthday, May 24. I usually go to visit my father at the cemetery on their birthday but I found myself out of town for most of the day and so I went to the cemetery today for Memorial Day. I placed flags by their headstones and shared a moment of thanks for their military service, that they came home safely and for the military service of everyone else who has ever fought for what this country stands for. I appreciate that there are men and women who are willing to do this. I just wish they didn't have to...
The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plow;
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.
And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
~Eric Bogle
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