In Time For Veterans Day (Remembering World War I) [Vanity]

[goldstategop]

In Flanders Fields

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.

------------------------------------------------------

Au Champ D'Honneur

Au champ d'honneur, les coquelicots
Sont parsemés de lot en lot
Auprès des croix; et dans l'espace
Les alouettes devenues lasses
Mêlent leurs chants au sifflement
Des obusiers.

Nous sommes morts,
Nous qui songions la veille encor'
À nos parents, à nos amis,
C'est nous qui reposons ici,
Au champ d'honneur.

À vous jeunes désabusés,
À vous de porter l'oriflamme
Et de garder au fond de l'âme
Le goût de vivre en liberté.
Acceptez le défi, sinon
Les coquelicots se faneront
Au champ d'honneur.

[goldstategop]

John McCrae's famous poem still speaks to us almost a century after World War I. Perhaps some famous poem will come out of the Iraq War. As we pause to honor the Great War dead and their sacrifices, let us remember the living, who fight with such great courage today for our freedom. Let us not break faith with them.

[Doogle]

[Tijeras_Slim]

I have a Rendezvous with Death


I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath—
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.

God knows 'twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear . . .
But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Alan Seeger 1888-1916

[Knitting A Conundrum]

It was a war that shaped a century...

[vae_victus]

I picked up the little brochure attached to a poppy at the local VFW. On the front cover was the first line of this poem and the statement "this famous poem is known by every school child."
My personal survey: 0 (zero) people have any clue what this poem is, and when read, have no idea what it is about.
All Quiet On The Western Front I buy on the 50 cent table at the library since its been removed from the stacks.
Just saying...

[goldstategop]

John McCrae was a Canadian author, soldier, doctor and poet. By a strange twist of fate, he died in the last of the Great War in a military hospital of pneumonia. Every Canadian schoolchild has learnt the poem's verses by heart. But its also a universal poem that crosses national boundaries. It speaks of love of country, of friends and family, of courage, valor and devotion. It reminds us of the justice of the cause those who fought and died on the battlefield of that war for which they gave their lives. The Dead have a claim upon our conscience. T'were it not for the valiant sacrifice of the soldier, none of us would be here alive today. It is in their memory and in deepest reverence for them, that we bow our heads in silent humility and vow never to break our faith with them. They are and we are them, in a continuous chain unbroken by Time.