Gently swaying, bobbing heads in the breeze,
Delicate petals, so vividly red.
One more wounded soldier falls to his knees,
Blending poppies alive with poppies dead.
Fighting Taliban in Helmand province,
Far too much at stake to accept defeat.
It is farmers the west tries to convince
“Give up the poppies in exchange for wheat,
And do not succumb to all that it yields”
Destruction, poppies beauty fails to hide.
Representation born from Flanders Fields,
Worn ceremoniously with grief and pride.
Symbolised every Remembrance Day,
Seems rather ironic, wouldn’t you say?