11 November 2008

At the 11th Hour on the 11th Day of the 11th Month



IN FLANDER'S FIELDS

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.


-John McCrae



HIGH FLIGHT

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.


Officer John G. Magee, Jr. - November, 1941

THE ACT OF REMEMBRANCE
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn [sic].
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

RESPONSE: We will remember them


TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, OTTAWA, ON CANADA

KNOWN ONLY UNTO GOD

Canada remembers

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