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, MD (1872-1917)

Canadian Army

On this Memorial Day

Please remember, and say a prayer for, those men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for your freedom.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war, is much worse. The man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

-John Stuart Mill

We Remember

In the rising of the sun, and in its going down,
We remember them.

In the blowing of the wind, and in the chill of winter,
We remember them.

In the opening of buds, and in the rebirth of spring,
We remember them.

In the blueness of the sky, and in the warmth of summer,
We remember them.

In the rustling of leaves, and in the beauty of autumn,
We remember them.

In the beginning of the year, and when it ends,
We remember them.

When we are weary and in need of strength,
We remember them.

When we are lost and sick at heart,
We remember them.

When we have joys and we yearn to share,
We remember them.

So long as we live, they too shall live
For they are now a part of us
As we remember them.

~ Book of Jewish Prayers