Wartime poem in flanders fields still holds meaning today

John McCrae , a Canadian lieutenant colonel, was inspired to write it after he conducted the burial service for an artillery officer, Alexis Helmer, who had been killed in the conflict. 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.

Wartime poem in flanders fields still holds meaning today: While the poem was about

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. In summary, the poem observes how poppies blow in the fields where the fallen soldiers including Helmer are buried.

There is yet hope. But not for the men who have died, who until so recently lived and loved. The two poems share a similar rhythm, references to sky and fields, and similar rhyme words. Coincidence, perhaps.