Flanders fields

Brother
Do you see the poppies billow in the breeze?
On Flanders fields

The grounds where all your memories lie
Our leaders state the battle was won with jingoistic honour
"The deaths were many on the other side"
They tell us our trenches were filled to the brim
But with blood that would please
Yet I recognize their lie,
Considering the tragedy in which our family has so intimately been tied

You must know
I prayed for you every day my kinsman
Every time the clock would strike an hour
I would be at our table there kneeling
A child two years from the age of service...
And now a man
I remember
In these fields
Every one of these poppies took a drifting soul to grow
For every man stands a single flower
Now tell me
Really, was it worth it?
Did we truly gain a great amount of power?
A pound for every poppy sprouted?
The value of the conflict lately doubted
Leaving taste in our mouths all so sour
Brethren, our gains against the losses of our children and fathers couldn’t be counted even in our plentiful bags of flour

So now the poppies growing tall and strong
In the springs new birth
But not after long
The flowers wilt and bed the turf
Where all our brothers
Our father’s touched the hearth
Still yet we commemorate
Our patriot’s lives
But your life, brother did incinerate

By Rarcas Oscuro

Inspired by the war poem 'flanders fields' which can be seen at the link: http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm