Poppies are a reminder of all the blood men and women have spilt fighting for their country. They do not glorify war. I hate war and a daily prayer is:
Please let there be an end to war and bloodshed, fighting and bombing, terrorism and torture, suffering and oppression. Please save the children, feed the world and let there be peace and love throughout the world.
Anthem for Doomed Youth
What passing bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Onlythe stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
Excerpt from Wilfred Owen's poem.
Wilfred Owen 1893-1918
27 comments:
On Channel 4 last Sunday, John Snow was presenting an edition of The Genius of British Art. In it he explores how up until WW1, where war was concerned, art was all about valour, honour and victory. But afterwards, war artists focused much more on the horror of it. Well worth watching if you missed it.
Kim: sounds like something MTL particularly would appreciate.
Pat, a timely and thoughtful reminder of the horror of war and why we should remember.
I've just finished reading Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, which is set around the time of the first world war and, among other things, shows what war can do to men and women - well worth a read if you haven't already.
Well said Pat. I am in complete agreement.
(You must have very green fingers, beautiful flowers!) :¬)
xxx
(WV = 'patoonar'!)
Sharon: I'll check if MTL knows it - or even has it, then try Amazon. Thank you.
Mapstew: not really green fingers. Once these poppies take hold there's no stopping them. I dug them up from the front garden to put them here and now they are in both places.
Those are so beautiful, I'm going right now into our garden to do some work!
I like your daily prayer, Pat, I will add it to my list of prayers.
I abhor war as well, and I never associate poppies with it. They are so gorgeous!
I mentioned somewhere else that I think WWI literature and poetry is some of the most poignant. It's a shame it took a war to inspire it.
Very nice. Thanks.
GG: I don't know about you but my list gets longer and longer. It's almost a litany now and sometimes I lose my place and have to start all over again.
Judy: some people insist on wearing a white poppy on Remembrance Day to emphasise they are against war. But the poppies in the fields of Flanders were scarlet.
Randall: it was a truly horrible war.
Kevin::)
First of all, did you do anything to that photo in Photoshop? Because those colors are stunning.
I'm going to be the Gloomy Gus here. War is a part of the human condition. There always has been war and I don't think it'll ever abate. Sorry. There will never be peace in the Middle East. Never. (Although I use to say that about Norther Ireland, as well. Shows you how little I know.)
UB: so glad you like the photo. Photo shop and I are strangers - we've never been introduced. I use Picasa and they have an option 'I'm feeling lucky' which I usually click on. Sometimes it's better sometime it's worse.
Some of my best friends are 'Gloomy Gus-s'- some very close to home, but without faith and hope I'm done.
"And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds"
I always loved the last line of the poem. Maybe if the anti poppy brigade can't wear a poppy, they could manage to revert to an old measure of respect??? Like half-drawing of blinds?
Macy: I should have published the whole poem. For some reason I can't copy and paste from Google onto Dashboard. I can from Word fortunately.
There is no one more against war than the soldier. But the soldier sees the good as well as the horrific. The soldier sees a people lifted out of oppression and sees democracy reach out to them. The soldier sees children given food who are starving and sees frail elderly people and women in bondage set free. As long as there are oppressors there will be war and today, on Veteran's Day, we celebrate the men and women willing to risk their lives for these things.
Lovely poppies Pat, a good daily prayer, and a terrible poem by a great poet. I don't mean his poetry is terrible - I think I mean that the poem is a true account of one of the most terrible periods of human history. I think U.B. is right that war is a part of the human condition. As long as there are human beings, war will continue, which is a terrible comment on human nature. I don't know why, as young men, we glorify it, but I know we do. It's the way we're made. Still trying to work it out.
Regards, Mike.
Granny Annie: thank you for reminding us.
Mike and Anne: yes some of the WW1 poems and accounts portray a horror one can hardly imagine. I think it starts with boys in the cradle. It was a long time before I could forgive an old friend who gave my toddler son a gun. He loved it.
Beautiful Poppies that are so Alive and Colorful. They mean life!
What a lovely thoughtful post, Pat....I love that Poem and the Prayer, too.
LOVE is what will end all wars. The banishing of Hatred by LOVE!
I prsy we see that someday soon.
Naomi: I'm glad you feel the same way:)
Ever since the dawn of time there has been wars, and I think there always will be wars until the end of time, or until we annihilate each other with bigger and better weapons..
No amount of prayers will do any good, because the simple fact of why there are wars is because Man enjoys killing. Like you, I wish it was otherwise, but Man is the most dangerous animal on the planet.
Love the poppies. Next to foxgloves they are my second favourite flowers.
Keith; there is a lot in what you say but I do believe in prayer. And always will.
Simply splendid and passionate poppies. Look at those colors, says the artist. Yes, I agree, time to end these petty wars.
Maggie: seems we women are more hopeful an optimistic than the men.
My late father and my father-in-law served in WWII---neither spoke much about it; both of their lives were impacted by what they experienced.
Would that there was an end to war....
xo
So much moving poetry came from WW1. One line that haunts me is when Ivor Gurney writes about shooting a young enemy soldier (because it was 'him or me' and, Gurney goes on, 'you would do the same')
The line that haunts me is:
'Perhaps he was the only son...' I have an image of a mother sitting at home hearing that her only child is dead. Oh dear. It gets me every time.
Debra: here here!
Leigh: it really doesn't bear thinking about but we can't stick our heads in the sand.
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