In Flanders Fields (That We Never Forget)

No URL | 1915 | John McCrae

[IncPen]

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.

[IncPen]

If you have a few moments to remember and honor our men and women, here's a thread from last Remembrance Day with many more excellent memorials.

FReeper Ryle posted this link on that thread which has some background on "In Flanders Fields".

[IncPen]

Ping

[secret garden]

BTTT.

[Dick Bachert]

To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord

No more bleeding, no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
Just divine embrace, eternal light
In the Mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
Through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord.

***********

Just so you will know, "The Mansions of The Lord" was first used at the end of the splendid Mel Gibson film "We Were Soldiers." If you have NOT seen it, I urge you to do so. It will be a very emotional experience.

Perhaps this paricular story of the valor and sacrifice of American fighting men touched me so because I was training kids to be combat engineers at Ft. Belvoir, Va between 1962 to 1966. Many of them wound up in Vietnam. Some of them found their way to The Wall (which I STILL cannot bring myself to visit).

Director Randall Wallace and Music Director Nick Glennie-Smith searched for the US Army counterpart to the beautiful and haunting "Navy Hymn" (which, because I was at the Kennedy funeral, STILL rings in my ears) and could not find one. So they WROTE "Mansions" and use it (sung by the West Point Glee Club) as the credits roll. The melody is used during the film as well, but the audience at the screening I attended sat motionless as the credits ran – and words and music enveloped us.

I shall probably watch my DVD version of it today. And I will again be moved to tears...

[headsonpikes]

In remembrance bump.

[genefromjersey]

MEMORIAL DAY 1993

On sullen streets
Fanatics scream
And try to soil
Our Nation's Dream -

A dream of Freedom
Bought with blood:
A dream of honest
Brotherhood.

They do not care !
An ancient Foe
They seek to bring us
Endless woe !

Hold fast ! Hold fast !
In memory
Of all who died
To keep us free !

I have just finished this poem as I sit here. Please feel free to consider it " in the Public Domain ".

[Tennessee_Bob]

John Mitchell
Reply to Flanders Fields

Oh! sleep in peace where poppies grow;
The torch your falling hands let go
Was caught by us, again held high,
A beacon light in Flanders sky
That dims the stars to those below.
Your are our dead, you held the foe,
And ere the poppies cease to blow,
We'll prove our faith in you who lie
In Flanders Fields.
Oh! rest in peace, we quickly go
To you who bravely died, and know
In other fields was heard the cry,
For freedom's cause, of you who lie,
So still asleep where poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.

As in rumbling sound, to and fro,
The lightning flashes, sky aglow,
The mighty hosts appear, and high
Above the din of battle cry,
Scarce heard amidst the guns below,
Are fearless hearts who fight the foe,
And guard the place where poppies grow.
Oh! sleep in peace, all you who lie
In Flanders Fields.

And still the poppies gently blow,
Between the crosses, row on row.
The larks, still bravely soaring high,
Are singing now their lullaby
To you who sleep where poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Edith Nesbit

The Fields of Flanders

Last year the fields were all glad and gay
With silver daisies and silver may;
There were kingcups gold by the river's edge
And primrose stars under every hedge.

This year the fields are trampled and brown,
The hedges are broken and beaten down,
And where the primroses used to grow
Are little black crosses set in a row.

And the flower of hopes, and the flowers of dreams,
The noble, fruitful, beautiful schemes,
The tree of life with its fruit and bud,
Are trampled down in the mud and the blood.

The changing seasons will bring again
The magic of Spring to our wood and plain;
Though the Spring be so green as never was seen
The crosses will still be black in the green.

The God of battles shall judge the foe
Who trampled our country and laid her low. . . .
God! hold our hands on the reckoning day,
Lest all we owe them we should repay.

[centurion316]

Lest we forget....

Poem by Laurence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is a music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end they remain.

They shall grow not old....as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them

[irish guard]

In my hometown each year, there is a simple ceremony, where there are a few partriotic songs sung, a brief speech followed by the reciting of the Gettysburg Address and In Flanders Fields.......the program ends in taps, followed by silence..................then everyone leaves in silence................ Every year for the last 70. It is very moving. My Mom recited In Flanders Fields when she was a young girl of 20. Mom died November 21, 2002. This years marks the first year she will have missed the event. Flanders Fields is a sad but sweet memory for me....thanks for posting this.

[NonValueAdded]

Bless you for posting this poem along with the links.

[Dubya]

Bump in rememberance.

[hgro]

I remember my best friend who lost his life in the "Battle of the Bulge" in WW2 every day of my life.

I was a pallbearer at his internment and it was tough to face his mother when her only son was home at last.

[Soaring Feather]

Edith Nesbit

The Fields of Flanders



Beautiful, just beautiful.

[Soaring Feather]

Thank you for posting this poem.

[x1stcav]

I think they played two scores from the movie. Definitely Mansions of the Lord but there was the other score.

[EvaClement]

In Flanders Fields (That We Never Forget)
| 1915 | John McCrae

bookmarking. thanks.

E.C.