Flanders Red

This was once a sea of mud Where thousands bled! Before it reverted to! A field of Flanders Poppy Red. Do lines of ghostly squaddies! Plough through ethereal mire! In an endless quest to! Charge the enemy barbed wire. Do Mill Bombs explode! As machine guns bark! Sending many of the brave! Into death's final dark. How many bodies sank Into that glutinous paste Just futile victims of A futile war's waste. Do those shades fight bravely Or do they fight with despair Knowing it was sheer folly That they were ever there. The Flanders Poppy thrives It's vivid scarlet red An enduring tribute to those Many brave but wasted dead. And the massed white tombstones In their precise lines and ranks Are tended with love and care In sincere but inadequate thanks 17 October 1916 the Battle of The Somme enterd its 109th day and had 32 more to run. It lasted 141 day in total. It saw the first use of the tank in battle, and extensive use of air power. Casualties: British and Empire: 420,000, French: 200,000, German: between 434,000 and 500,000. It was classed as “inconclusive.” 100 Years On I feel like crying/