Red Poppies For Remembrance

(My dear friends, one and all, please accept my apologies if this
reaches you too late. I wrote this for the Canadian Remembrance Day,
shortly after September 11th, 2001)

RED POPPIES FOR REMEMBRANCE

Red poppies glowing brightly
Beneath the city lights;
People are remembering
How sorrow reached the heights

Through wars that killed so many.
And now there's something new
That we were unprepared to know.
It's changed our point of view.

It brought to mind Pearl Harbor,
But now there's something more.
Just one man's blatant hatred,
His creed, his holy war

Brought us a brand new horror.
It struck us to the heart.
This year, upon Remembrance Day,
This, too, will play its part.

This time we'll mourn for people,
Not just fighters in the field,
Simple folk turned heroes,
Those we know and those concealed.

The ones who had the duty
And those people passing by
Who tried to help the others,
Every one who had to die.

We pay tribute to their families
And the friends they've left behind
With poppies placed above our hearts
And thoughts strong in our minds.

They'll stand beside all others
Who have gone that way before
And, as always, we'll pray for peace
And a world where there's no war.

© 2002  Pam H. Murray