SPOTLIGHT
OF THE WEEK: November 1 - 15, 1998
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, saw dawn, felt sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up your 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.
Doctor
Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) John McCrae of the 1st Field Artillery Brigade
wrote this poem on May 3, 1915 after the battle at
Ypres.
The poem was later published in "Punch", December
8, 1915.
