In Flanders 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.

Boezinge (Ieper), 1915

John McCrae

In Flanders Fields is a poem by the Canadian military doctor and poet John McCrae.

He wrote it at the beginning of May 1915 in his auxiliary post at Essex Farm, 2 km north of the centre of Ypres. The final version was published on 8 December 1915.

He died on 28 January 1918, heading the N°3 Canadian General Hospital in Boulogne. He is buried in the cemetery of Wimereux (Pas-de-Calais, France).