Preparing to Remember

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
John McCrae, 1872 - 1918

I found this poppy amongst Mum's treasures earlier this year.  Remembrance Day was always important to Mum & Dad.  Mum's family suffered tragic bereavement in World War 1, and as a young girl, she lived through the Manchester Blitz, December 1940. Many tales of shrapnel collecting and owning a gas mask.  And Dad still had some banana coupons.