It's ANZAC Day, a day during which Australians and New Zealanders remember those who served and died in wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations, a day when we give thanks to those who risked and gave their lives for the ones they loved.
We wear a red poppy - the commemorative flower of remembrance - in our lapels, and reflect on John McCrae's heart-wrenching poem, '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.
If you have 15 minutes, 'The Lark Ascending' - written by Ralph Vaughan Williams in the early days of WWI and performed here by David Nolan on violin, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley - is perhaps the perfect piece with which to contemplate the meaning of this day.
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