Scottish Poetry Selection
- In Flanders Fields

Scottish regiments were well to the fore in the battles in France during both world wars and many fell in Flanders Fields. Here is a poem by a Canadian surgeon, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae during a lull in the 1915 Battle of Ypres. John McCrae's grandfather had emigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1849. The inspiration behind the poem is thought to have come from the death of one of McCrae's friends.


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.

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