Thoughts on war: John McCrae – In Flanders Fields (1915) (Published on 04/12/2025)
In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae
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.
The poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae (born on 30/11/1872, in Guelph/Canada; died on 28/01/1918, in Boulogne-sur-Mer/France) is one of the most famous poems about World War I. McCrae wrote it on 03/05/1915, after a friend had been killed in a shelling attack the previous day during the Second Battle of Flanders near Ypres. The poppy, which in the poem stands for the blood of the fallen in the fields of Flanders, subsequently became an iconic symbol of remembrance for fallen soldiers in the English-speaking world.
(Head picture: Poppy field in southern Hesse/Germany, May 2014)
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