November 11 is Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. (While November 11 in the United States is Veteran’s Day, the British Remembrance Day is more similar to Memorial Day in the United States.) Remembrance Day honors the end of World War I and honors those that died in the war. Wearing a poppy flower on his chest, my friend from Canada told me today that when he grew up, all children would learn to recite the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae. On many of the bloody battlegrounds, poppies now grow—their brilliant red has become a symbol of the blood spilled during the war. On this day, many will wear a poppy flower as a symbol of Remembrance of the fallen and the atrocities of war.
In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae (1915)
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.
“In Flanders Fields,” poem recited by Leonard Cohen