IN FLANDERS FIELDS.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS.

In Flanders field 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 with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

~~By Major John McCrae, May 1915.~~

“At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them, we will remember them”

A Remembrance Day Prayer

They served and fought and died, so that we might be safe and free,
Grant them, O Lord, eternal peace, and give them the victory!
And in these days of unrest, filled with grave uncertainty,
Lets not forget the price they paid to keep our country free.

And so, on this Remembrance Day, we offer up a prayer,
May all the nations be united in Thy care.
For earth’s peace and man’s salvation can come only by Thy grace,
And not through bombs and missiles and our quest for outer space.

For until all men recognise that ‘The battle is the Lord’s’,
And peace on earth cannot be won with strategy and swords,
We will go on vainly fighting, as we have in ages past,
Finding only empty victories and a peace that cannot last.

But we’ve grown so rich and mighty, and so arrogantly strong,
We no longer ask in humbleness, ‘God, show us where we’re wrong.’
We have come to trust completely in the power of man made things,
Unmindful of God’s mighty power and that He is ‘King of Kings’.

We have turned our eyes away from Him, to go our selfish way,
And money, power and pleasure are the gods we serve today.
And the good green earth God gave us to peacefully enjoy,
Through greed and fear and hatred we are seeking to destroy.

Oh, Father up in heaven, stir and wake our sleeping souls,
Renew our faith and lift us up and give us higher goals.
And grant us heavenly guidance as war threatens us again.
For, more than guided missiles, all the world needs is guided men.

Helen Steiner Rice