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.
* McCrae's handwritten version ends the first line with "grow." Apparently, he first discarded the poem, displeased with it, but fellow soldier's retrieved it.
Featured in our collection of World War I Literature, Poetry for Students, and 100 Great Poems.
Return to the John McCrae library , or . . . Read the next poem; The Anxious Dead