In Flanders’ Fields the poppies
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the
The larks, still bravely singing,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we
In Flanders’ Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who
We shall not sleep, though poppies
In Flanders’
One of the most asked questions is: why poppies?
The answer is simple: poppies only flower in up-rooted soil. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, and only when someone roots up the ground, they will sprout. There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when
Crae wrote his poem, around him poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before.
A Poem written in reply to John
Crae by Miss Moira Micheal (1915)"We shall Keep the Faith"Oh!
You who sleep in Flanders’ fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew;
We caught the torch you threw;
And holding high we
The faith with those who died.
We cherish, too, the Poppy
That grows on fields where valour led.
It seems to signal to the
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the
Of the flower that blooms above the
In Flanders’ Fields.
And now the torch and poppy
Wear in honour of our
Fear not that ye have died for
We’ve learned the lesson that ye
In Flanders’ Fields
