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, 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.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

I don't know about you but for me at the moment it's hard not to see poppies almost everywhere. They are the visual reminder that we will soon be commerating Anzac day.

Have you ever wondered why it is that poppies have become so connected with a day that commerates war? Seems an odd occasion to be connected with something as delicate as a flower.

The words of the poem above were written by a medical doctor during the First World War in Ypres, Belgium. Like many soldiers he had noticed that after battles had finished, often the first plants to grow back were wild flowers, particularly poppies. For the soldiers the flowers were a welcome reminder that beauty can come from the most ugly of places.

The poppy was adopted in the 1920's by the New Zealand Returned Services Association (RSA), and has been a proud part of Anzac day ever since.The poppies became a symbol of many things. Of beauty and hope, of rememberance and friends lost.

So this Anzac Day if you're wearing a poppy, take a moment to think about what it represents. And wear it proudly.