A Late Reply to In Flanders Fields (1987)
Source: Dallas Denny. (2001, June).A late reply to In Flanders Fields. Stehekin II, 4.
A Late Reply to In Flanders Fields
By Dallas Denny
In college I read John McCrea’s 1915 poem about World War I and a number of period responses, also in rondeau form.
Neither McCrea’s work or the responses reflected my own feelings. Here are the original, a jingoistic response written soon afterward by R.W. Lilliard, and my late (by 72 years!) reply.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields
Believed to have been written by Lt. Col. John McRae, 1915
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
America's Answer
America’s Answer
R.W. Lilliard
(A Typical Poetic Response)
REST YE in peace, ye Flanders dead.
The fight that ye so bravely led
We’ve taken up. And we will keep
True faith with you who lie asleep
With each a cross to mark his bed,
In Flanders fields.
Fear not that ye have died for naught
The torch ye threw to us we caught.
Ten million hands will hold it high
And Freedom’s light shall never die!
We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders fields.
A Late Reply to In Flanders Fields
A Late Reply to In Flanders Fields
By Dallas Denny
In Flanders fields we lie, the dead
Where late we lived and fought, and bled
For God and country faced our foe
And offered up, were glad to go
To Flanders fields.
And all the politicians’ games
To we young men were all the same
For we cared not the reason why
Our numbers called, we went to lie
In Flanders fields.
So blindly we lined up to fight
And turn the dawn of youth to night
We did not know, yet we believed
Our causes just– we were deceived
To Flanders fields.
And now our causes are forgot
And in the end, it mattered not
We lie in dirt and decompose
And push up poppies in those rows
Yet would again be glad to go
To Flanders fields.