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| LIFE IN SOLERA | JULY 2024 | 11 By Richard Crowe While we observed Memorial Day a month ago, I thought I would show how, in part, Beverly and I observe it and incorporate one of its themes into our garden. [From Wikipedia] "In Flanders Fields" is a war poem written during the first World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of a friend who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was published in 1915 in the London magazine Punch. Flanders Fields is a common English name [symbolizing blood] of the World War I battlefields in Belgium and France. It is one of the 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. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's best-known literary works. The poem is also widely known in the United States, where it is associated with Veterans Day and Memorial Day. When I was young, all school kids had to memorize the poem and I still feel its impact. Photo 1 (below, left) shows a field of red poppies growing in France. About 15 years ago I bought some seeds (sold as "Red Poppies") and scattered them around the yard. Photo 2 (below, center) shows the resulting growth in our vegetable garden. If you allow the spent plants to scatter their seeds, you will have red poppies every year for Memorial Day. We even pick and bring them into the house (Photo 3, below right). A garden to honor the fallen In Flanders fields, the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, at mark our place; and in the sky e 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 e 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.