Many people in our world bear the scars of war. Immigrants coming from countries that seem to be constantly at war. Those who managed to escape without loved ones. Those who came from Europe following the World Wars looking for a better life and safe place to start a family.
A Guelph, Ontario, church holds the name of one such soldier, Colonel John McCrae, author of the famous In Flanders Fields, a solemn rondeau poem about soldiers who now lie below a row of cross-shaped markers in a far away field.
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row…”
According to Litcharts, “McCrae wrote the poem in 1915 as a memorial to those who died in a World War I battle…. McCrae himself treated many of the soldiers injured.”
The poem appears to have different voices, those on the field who cannot hear the birds sing for the sound of battle, and those who lie beneath the ground, having their say about someone else taking up the torch, someone else understanding that they will not rest easily even if the field is covered with beautiful poppies and crosses neatly in a row.
Remembrance Day is a solemn time to mark when soldiers went off to endure war to bring about peace. Peace was not easily secured. It cost many lives and sacrifices that followed soldiers to the end of their lives, for those who did make it home, and the trauma they carried around the rest of their lives.
Many wars have been fought because of greed and to gain land and supremacy. Make no mistake that those who started the war were not the ones who fought it.
There is still unrest in many places around the world, ones that cause people to flee for their lives, ones that rob children of parents.
While the poppy is a symbol of freedom gained, I choose to think of peace and hope that we can keep that peace. And honour those who did go to fight. Fathers, grandfathers, young men with a life seemingly before them, cut short. So today we remember those who went to fight.
A rendition of "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian singer and songwriter Adele Simmons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu1XaTIUWR4
Carolyn Wilker, Editor, Author, Storyteller
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