At 11 am today it was exactly 90 years since the end of the war that was supposed to end all wars, namely the First World War. The war resulted, among other things, in the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the Middle East as we know it today. The War to End All Wars lead to a Peace to End All Peace. In commemoration of the war I post this poem by John McCrae:
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...