'In Flanders Fields'
May 25. 2013 1:46AM
When Canada entered the Great War in 1914, doctor and professor of medicine John McCrae enlisted in the Army. He was sent to the Western Front as a brigade surgeon, and when a friend was wounded during the 1915 Battle of Ypres, McCrae wrote for him a poem, "In Flanders Fields."
It quickly became the most famous poem of the war, and one of the most beloved poems of all time. McCrae contracted pneumonia while working at a hospital in France in 1918. He died five days later. We reprint this poem in memory of all who have died in defense of liberty.
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.
