[Editor: “In Flanders Fields” was written in May 1915 by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon in the Canadian army, who wrote it following the death of a friend on the Western Front. The poem was originally published on 8 December 1915 in Punch magazine (London, UK), and went on to become an iconic part of Remembrance commemorations in Australia and other Allied countries. Published in The Examiner (Launceston, Tas.), 5 February 1916.]
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, 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.
— “Punch.”
December 8, 1915.
Source:
The Examiner (Launceston, Tas.), Saturday 5 February 1916, page 4
References and further reading:
“The Poppy Campaign”, The Royal Canadian Legion (accessed 1 December 2011)
Rob Ruggenberg. “The making of ‘In Flanders Fields’”, The Heritage of the Great War (accessed 1 December 2011)
“In Flanders fields”, Wikipedia (accessed 1 December 2011)
“John McCrae”, Wikipedia (accessed 1 December 2011)
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