“POPPIES! Poppies will put them to sleep. Sleeeeep. Now
they'll sleeeeep!” So intoned Margaret
Hamilton as The Wicked Witch of the West in 1939’s MGM’s classic blockbuster
film “The Wizard of Oz.”
But by 1939 the red poppy already had quite the caché going
for it. During World War I, it had
become the universal symbol of remembrance for those who had fallen in
battle. It was because of a poem, “In
Flanders Fields,” written by Canadian
physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae after he had presided over the
funeral of a fellow soldier and friend killed in the Second Battle of Ypres in
1915. He threw it away, thinking it
unworthy, but his men rescued it and became a classic.
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.
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.
My
first visit to Paris was in the early 90s.
My partner Ken and I visited around Thanksgiving. Of course, we visited
the Arc de Triomphe. It was festooned
with red poppies. I didn’t get it then,
but I did later. France was heavily involved in WWI. We helped. The Kaiser lost. Red poppies were the symbol. All going back to that Flanders Field.
Flanders
doesn’t exist anymore. It is now split
between France & Belgium. Flemish is
a language that is disappearing. It is a
version of Dutch mixed with French that is unique and only spoken by extremely
old people in the Dutch part of Belgium.
There is one song, that I know, that is written in French & Flemish
and sung here by Jacques Brel. (See, I
told you there would be lack of continuity.)
He
sings about the Flanders Fields. I was
thrilled to find this clip. I had only
seen him as an old man. He was quite the
animated hunk at this time. The Gallic….just
love them.
And
then there’s Nina Simone’s Poppies….with which I’ll close. It has nothing to do with the rest of
this. But I like it.
Remembering all our veterans today. Thank you for your service.
