"We Shall Keep the Faith" is a poem penned by
Moina Michael
Moina Belle Michael (August 15, 1869 – May 10, 1944) was an American professor and humanitarian who conceived the idea of using Papaver rhoeas, poppies Remembrance poppy, as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in World War I.
Early li ...
in November 1918. She received inspiration for this poem from "
In Flanders Fields
"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and f ...
".
The "poppy red" refers to ''
Papaver rhoeas
''Papaver rhoeas'', with common names including common poppy, corn poppy, corn rose, field poppy, Flanders poppy, and red poppy, is an annual herbaceous species of flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae. It is a temperate native with ...
''.
Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.
We cherish, too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.
And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
By Moina Michael, 1918
References
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American poems
Poems set in Flanders
World War I poems
1918 poems