From earth a single poppy rose
through a war field’s winter snows,
then nature’s silken blanket of red
to far off horizons slowly spread.
Beneath a winter’s misted halo sun
from under the shadows of the gun
across those fields battle seared
this fragile flower of red appeared.
For heroes’ deaths in bygone years
this delicate flower of hope appears
beyond the battlefields, to rising sun
a poppy for each and every one.
Reaching ever upward to the sky,
fluttering petals grow and die
Now rooted forever in our earth
protecting fallen souls, re-birth.
For heroes known and unknown,
carpets of red flowers, nature’s sown
remembering warriors battle sore
within our thoughts for ever more.
Mick Scarles (SW19expat)
