Today, all over the country, there will be parades and concerts, picnics and barbecues, friends gathering to celebrate the long weekend. In all of our merriment and joy, let us not forget the price that freedom carries. This is the day we remember the men and women who offered themselves in the ultimate sacrifice for the liberties which you and I enjoy.
During my musical days, my first teacher, Walter Blazer, who served in World War II as a Lieutenant, suggested I learn the Charles Ives arrangement of “In Flanders Fields”: a war poem written during the First World War by a Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. “He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially unsatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch” (Wikipedia).
“In Flanders Fields” is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. Over the years this poetry and musical setting as become a treasured friend. Every Memorial Day, it seems that I return to Flanders Fields to remember and to give thanks.
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,
InFlanders 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.
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
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.
If you wish to hear the Charles Ives setting, I have included a link - begin at the 5 minute mark.
Love One Another - Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment