Poppies

Every year on Memorial weekend, my husband buys a paper poppy from a military veteran selling them outside the grocery store.  He wears it proudly. I never understood why but he did since his dad was in WW1.

Courtesy of Pixabay

Coming into this Memorial Day weekend I now understand the significance of the poppy.  The poppy seeds scatter in the wind and lie dormant until the ground is disturbed.  In World War 1 the ground was disturbed by war and where the soldiers were buried the poppies then grew! The poem, "In Flanders Fields," says it all:

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 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 memory of all those who lost their lives in past wars, have a great Memorial Day and weekend!