#poppies
Among the fields where poppies swayed
Beyond the guns and smoke,
The soldiers rested wearily,
Their silence barely broke.
Boots lay scattered on the grass,
Rifles stacked nearby.
Some men stared across the hills,
Some watched the drifting sky.
Then softly through the quiet air
A trumpet’s voice arose.
Bright notes dancing on the wind
Across the brief repose.
Young Tom stood tall upon the rise,
Trumpet pressed to lips.
A Highland lad in tartan worn,
With music at his fingertips.
The tune he played was full of life,
Of home and brighter days.
Of crowded pubs and harvest fields,
And childhood’s simple ways.
The soldiers slowly turned to hear
The melody unfold.
And hardened men who feared no guns
Felt memories take hold.
One saw his mother’s kitchen fire,
Warm bread upon the board.
Another heard his children laugh
Beyond the cottage door.
One pictured pints in crowded inns,
A pipe’s sweet curling haze.
Another saw his sweetheart smile
From happier younger days.
Tears ran silent down worn cheeks,
Cutting through the grime.
For just a moment war released
Its grip on them through time.
“Play another tune, young Tom!”
A weary sergeant cried.
And laughter rose among the men
Where sorrow used to hide.
Young Tom obliged with smiling eyes
And raised the trumpet high.
Another joyful song took flight
Beneath the open sky.
The notes rolled out across the hills
Like sunlight after rain.
And every heart beat stronger there
Despite the grief and pain.
Then suddenly the music changed.
A sharp and urgent sound.
The call that every soldier knew
Rang hard across the ground.
Officers shouted through the camp,
“Stand to! Back to line!”
The brief sweet peace was swept away
By duty’s hand and time.
The trumpet now cried out for war,
Its voice both proud and grim.
No longer songs of home and hope,
But battle’s marching hymn.
In rows of three the soldiers formed,
With rifles held in hand.
And following Tom’s steady call,
They marched toward no man’s land.
The poppies bent beneath their boots,
The sky grew dark once more.
Yet still the trumpet led them on
Toward thunder, smoke, and war.
Its final notes rang clear and brave
Above the guns’ wild roar.
Then somewhere near the shattered line
The trumpet played no more.
Silence fell upon the fields
As evening cloaked the slain.
And where young Tom had proudly stood,
Only echoes still remained.
But some men swore in later years,
When night winds crossed the plain,
They heard a distant trumpet call
Through poppies after rain.
A final tune for fallen souls,
For brothers lost in flame.
And every note still carried softly
The memory of Tom Browns name.
3d ago
May 31, 2026 at 3:47 AM UTC
***
She watched the soldiers disappear
Beyond the smoke and rain,
Their shadows fading through the mist
Across the shattered plain.
No trumpet sang, no banners waved,
No glory filled the air.
Only weary men with haunted eyes
Marching toward despair.
When silence settled on the field,
She slowly walked ahead.
To where the soldiers once had stood
Among the torn and dead.
The earth was churned by mud and blood,
By boots and shellfire’s flame.
And scattered there like fallen leaves
Forgotten letters lay.
She knelt among the poppies red,
Her trembling fingers cold,
And lifted pages soaked by rain,
Still carrying words of home.
One letter spoke of mother’s bread,
Still warm upon the tray.
A father waiting by the fire
At ending of the day.
Another told of sweetheart’s eyes,
And promises once made.
Of dancing halls and wedding rings
Beyond the war’s dark shade.
One spoke of brothers left behind,
Of sisters growing tall.
Of Christmas bells and childhood games
Beside an old stone wall.
Each page she read held hope and love,
Simple dreams so small.
Yet every word became a ghost
Across that broken sprawl.
Tears slowly traced her weary face
As twilight dimmed the sky.
For every letter seemed to breathe
With lives that did not die.
Then nearby in the muddy earth,
Half-hidden by the rain,
She saw a fallen soldier there,
Still silent where he lay.
His hand still grasped a final page,
Its writing left undone.
The ink had blurred beneath the storm,
The sentence never done.
She gently knelt beside the boy,
No older than her years.
And carefully she took the page
While fighting back her tears.
“My darling Mum…” the letter read,
Then suddenly it ceased.
The final words forever lost
In war’s unholy grief.
She bowed her head beside the dead,
The wind so cold and still.
Around them scarlet poppies swayed
Across the shattered hill.
Then softly through the falling dusk
She whispered low and true,
“I promise I will send this home.
I will remember you.”
“I’ll tell them how you fought with courage,
How you carried hope through pain.
How even here, beneath this hell,
Your heart stayed kind through rain.”
The soldiers marched far out of sight,
The guns began once more.
But she remained among the letters
Scattered by the war.
Gathering every fragile page
Like treasures from the dead,
To carry home their final words
And all the tears they bled.
For though the war would take their lives,
And silence many stories,
One soul remained to speak their names
And guard their memories.
4d ago
May 30, 2026 at 3:47 AM UTC
The battlefield may have healed,
but the trenches are still there.
Now the field blooms red.
Poppies scatter across hillsides
like little mouths left open,
soft and crimson,
fed by something buried deep below.
From a distance,
it looks beautiful.
That is how these things survive
by learning how to disguise themselves.
The earth sealed over long ago.
No smoke.
No sirens.
No fresh graves left exposed to weather.
Only quiet dips in the ground
where damage once lived violently.
Only careful hands
pulling sleeves lower
when the seasons change.
The battlefield may have healed,
but the trenches are still there.
Sometimes they ache in cold weather.
Sometimes in warm.
Sometimes for no reason at all.
And beneath the poppies,
the soil still remembers
every place it was split open.
I think that is what scares me the most,
not the ruin itself,
but how ordinary it becomes.
How the body adapts
to carrying small private wars.
How people compliment the flowers
without noticing
what feeds them.
Every spring,
the field blooms red again.
May 10
May 10, 2026 at 5:57 PM UTC
Down lies a still smouldering crow,
his sullen wings saturated
with fast-drying wines.
The rouged soils rupture and burst
into bloom. The rotting welts
turn green with age.
Now petal spill
like blood from the buds
The wilting, creasing constellation.
Down lies a smouldering crow.
He wears his mother’s
face now, as he rests, at last,
amongst the flowers without a
casket
to separate.
Now feathers spill
from hollow bone, and cold
eyes widen, blind.
The birdsong
will be
silent
yet now
until
spring.
Up rises the dimmed dove
with wings unfolded, revealed
as a stray unsent letter -
the white cross. Even still,
where the flight feathers
dust upwards, they
do not reach the sky.
Because, although they are
white and soft,
ash bruised skies
refuse to open.
The winged shadow stitches
into the poppies below,
darkening
vermilion into a sickly rouge.
A crow lies beneath.
Too young to die, yet
old enough to fight.
His poppyseed eyes
are eternally blind
to beauty
of the dove.
Oct 8, 2025
Oct 8, 2025 at 5:04 PM UTC
I lay in your arms on a
Vacant bed of Poppies
Watching a midnight blue sky
As ancient ferns opened curtains wide
Cathedral upon cathedral
Passed before our vision
Each belled more splendid than the next
Slave doors were but half opened
We saw arches being lifted
Marx and Brecht nodding in agreement
We turned and rested in "I AM"
The poppies faded
Their red turning to blood
Black centres becoming
AFRIKA !
Copyright © Ghairo Daniels 2017
Sep 26, 2025
Sep 26, 2025 at 3:01 AM UTC
Crosses white, poppies red,
Remember how, remember when
Pale petals fell from blooming roses,
And padded paths where freedom goes.
Fierce fires doused a would be hate,
To quench dry hearts, yours and mine.
Their love and duty burned paper chains
That shackled in war time.
Wise eyes, bright minds, aged souls, young hearts,
Traded rockers for grassy beds;
Gave up gray for blue-black youth,
Now honoured among the dead.
The rose that's guarded by the thorn,
Against the reach of many hands,
Does the same in all God's lands:
Yet still the life sap flows.
This time of year is here again,
But remember how, remember when
Canadian pulses beat taps then.
Remembrance Day must never end.
Nov 11, 2024
Nov 11, 2024 at 7:45 AM UTC
With all their long toes,
the trees stand in the floodlight --
of the poppy field.
Jul 24, 2023
Jul 24, 2023 at 4:24 AM UTC
when I am silent I become the absence of silence
I'm thinkig your body, I'm sensing your mind
my hands rehearse the circle theory,
the openings of the horizon hiding in plain sight
time plus time is a world without hyperbole,
but the courage of enchantment
even the fields dream about the all in one
cause it's poppies time and panta rhei
Jun 7, 2023
Jun 7, 2023 at 2:11 PM UTC
land of untold stories
where our half baked entanglement resides
there are no roses on its graveside
just poppies, remembrance in our minds
our muted mouths invisiblize those nights
Apr 23, 2023
Apr 23, 2023 at 11:22 AM UTC
Red & blue sage in remembrance of you
Gladiolus, carnations-
pink poppies too.
While foxglove protects
With larkspur and flax,
The windflowers wilt but always grow back.
White lilies for hope
And forget-me-nots true,
an innocence captured in their ambiguous blue.
Griefs Pink and white orchids,
Support’s crimson rose-
the healing of hyacinth,
flowers & prose.
Apr 8, 2022
Apr 8, 2022 at 3:15 PM UTC
~
*A no-man's land,
ablaze in scarlet
A no-man's land,
the blood and the bones of men
The more who died,
the more they thrived
A no-man's land,
flowered along the banks
from which the dead drank,
to forget their former existence,
when they were singing
in the lulls
A no-man's land,
offering a touch
of Heaven in Hell*
~
Dec 31, 2021
Dec 31, 2021 at 12:44 PM UTC
The blood had fell
for many a year,
the bodies never ceased to drop,
and every person shed a tear.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Bob joined up in January 1918
as he had turned the age he had to go,
him and his friends went to enlist
as English pavements filled with snow.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Fred was from a near-by town,
went down to enroll with fear in his tum,
he didn't really want to sign up,
as he'd miss his Cat, his Dad, his Mum.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Fred and Bob had a torrid time
in that drowning stinking mud,
and met when they were deployed together
after The Battle Of Belleau Wood.
In the awful years of The Great War.
They clapped eyes on each other in a trench
and their hearts simultaneously began to flutter,
wonder stirred in their souls,
words of love they wished to utter.
In the awful years of The Great War.
They were both drenched in horror,
shrouded in a bombed out trance,
but began to feel some ease
with every stolen glance.
In the awful years of The Great War.
They talked in down hours,
how they'd eventually leave Hell, sit hand in hand, try to forget what they had seen,
full of peace and calm,
in a field of summer green.
In the awful years of The Great War.
When no-one else was looking
they'd try and dull the machine gun hiss
and find a tiny space
for a fleeting enamoured kiss.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Inevitably they got *****
talked about what fleshy designs they could be,
Bob said, "I'm up for owt!"
Fred replies, "oh, perhaps you could *** on me!"
In the awful years of The Great War.
Bob chucked, "ha ha, I'm up for that,
anything to please you that is in my power!'
Fred responded, "great my love,
I'll look forward to a golden shower!"
In the awful years of The Great War.
Fred and Bob continued their covert romance
and anticipated the day when Fred would get a jet of Bob's yellow
but then one became their leader
was the most terrible fellow.
In the awful years of The Great War.
He waltzed in and stated with arrogance,
'I'm now in charge of you, you ghastly bunch of ****
He was the most frightful man:
Major Barthomley Pitt.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Despite never seeing combat
Pitt did pontificate, "deserters he would shoot,
cowards would go up against the wall
and the scared get the gun boot."
In the awful years of The Great War.
But what Pitt hated most
was "men who go up other mens' rears,
I ******* hate those sodomites,
I ******* hate those queers!"
In the awful years of The Great War.
Pitt continued that he'd "rooted out sin
whether it be meek or mild
and I have filled with bullets
those who enjoy copulation like Oscar Wilde!"
In the awful years of The Great War.
In the middle of this diatribe a shell exploded,
the debris torn into Bob's arm,
and a mustard gas cloud appeared
before anyone could raise the alarm.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Fred had got a lung full,
Pitt cowering started to look for his own cover,
but both Bob with only one upper limb working started to think about his lover.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Bob ****** on a hanky as he knew ammonia
could relieve the toxic gas and stop a man from being dead,
and in a desperate lunge in the front of Pitt
placed the sodden rag on the face of Fred.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Just a minute ago Pitt was shouting,
off on one of his vile anti ****** rants
but just 60 seconds later a puff was giving another puff in front of him
a pair of hard ons in their pants.
In the awful years of The Great War.
Bob and Fred were rushed to field hospital
and of that abomination of war did get away,
and were both still bedridden
when on the 11/11/11 was declared Armistice Day.
No more awful years of The Great War.
After it had ended Bob and Fred moved to separate houses in a village,
Bob's inheritance made this dream,
and they would go deep in the woods
and be their serene supreme
No more awful years of The Great War.
They would laugh about how they had made it,
their glee made the sun more brightly beam,
on this peaceful blue calming day
Bob and Fred found their field of green.
A happily ever after The Great War.
Nov 10, 2021
Nov 10, 2021 at 6:18 PM UTC
Poppies after rain
Waving scarlet petticoats
A garden can-can
Aug 23, 2021
Aug 23, 2021 at 10:42 AM UTC
Countless poppies now grow
Where men had once stood,
Or had peered from a dugout,
Or had hidden in a wood,
Where bullets had hailed and
Young lives were squandered,
As poisoned gas smothered
And big guns thundered,
Those in charge must have surely
Questioned and pondered.
Poppies grow in peace now,
Gunfire no longer heard,
Let this be the case forever
For PEACE - is the golden word.
Jul 9, 2021
Jul 9, 2021 at 1:18 AM UTC
Already buckled in the backseat
I’d want to come to the grocery
And while you’d push the basket
I followed after so closely
We dug up weeds and planted poppies
Gold and vermillion
And I remember I felt my heart drop
When you said you can’t be friends with your children
I remember thinking
If you can’t accept me then how will I accept myself
you taught me everything
If you can’t accept me how will I accept myself?
And I’m not gonna get my confirmation
But I really want to make you proud
I know it’s not what you expected
It’s harder to say some things out loud
I didn’t get the chance to tell you
She told you before I could say a word
And then I didn’t want to talk about it
I ran away, I lost my nerve
You gave me all the space I wanted
That was four years ago
until it seemed like you’d forgotten
Until I moved to Chicago
And I was thinking
If you can’t accept me then how will I accept myself
You taught me everything
If you can’t accept me how will I accept myself?
And I just want to feel accepted
But I really want to make you proud
I know I’m not what you expected
It’s harder to say some things out loud
Dec 26, 2020
Dec 26, 2020 at 2:11 AM UTC
In the sea of poppies
she became a sinking boat
to be honest
like a painting on the canvas
it looked beautiful but for a while
and then everything
became sad.
Jul 31, 2020
Jul 31, 2020 at 3:07 AM UTC
There once was a bundle of poppies
The brightness of their life
The flowers brought the children joy
The adults, some hope
For if something this beautiful
Striving in the darkest hour
In the good vase
Some flowers wilting
But some bursting with red
This gives them hope, and joy, and peace
Some forget, that though beautiful, the poppies are simply
Dead.
Apr 17, 2020
Apr 17, 2020 at 10:59 PM UTC
I saw a computer chasing a pen as the follen artist cried tears of emptiness. I saw confusion ridiculed by reason as I saw a book watching TV. I saw my reflection in a field of poppies dancing blindly with a syringe, I saw promise held down by lies, hope strangled reality. I saw the homeless ridiculed by societies ignorance. I saw all my dreams injected into screaming viens who recoiled at truth.................. To be continued
Jan 5, 2020
Jan 5, 2020 at 10:13 PM UTC
How dare I sulk
over dust which has
slipped between my fingers
when poppies are rattling
in damp air
when daises smile up
beaming at their sun
clover and grass gleam
green and iridescent;
the dust which I lost
panged me so to no
avail until today I saw
this was the food
for early June creation.
Oct 11, 2019
Oct 11, 2019 at 1:08 PM UTC
Lost,
amongst the chaos, caught outside with a long way to go,
calm,
within the center, inside everything comes 360° full circle,
call it a circle but it’s more of a spiral,
careful don’t want to hurt you when I go ******
but the truth is the first rule of nature is survival,
chaos outside crack pipes alight demoralized fools act suicidal,
see healing can help but it can also hurt you,
especially if you forget your virtues,
trust me you must be occasionally criticized passionately,
for acting out irrationally if not you’re not living your truth,
too caught up in your own closed captions to actually,
see passed the rose glasses that skews your worldview,
out past curfew brazenly making your way merrily,
down that yellow brick road until you stub your toe I told you,
healing can hurt you if you forget your virtues,
still you choose to refuse the truth shown in your own show,
okay your choice to choose now without further ado, the news,
this just in, we’re all caught in whirlpools,
drains all clogged with heirlooms,
energy vampires virgule our virtues,
as slashed wrist fill bathtubs, pills lay on pillows in bedrooms,
these cities are pretty venues for gritty citizen cesspools,
sporadic & magic with hearts as dark as our issues,
no Jim Henson only thuggish muppets wretched henchmen,
puzzled puppets & sketchy Skeksis from The Dark Crystal,
it’s a bizarre & awkward Little Shop of Horrors,
a smorgasbord of unordered hors d’oeuvres served cold,
& you’re confused of course because you didn’t order more,
plus it smells horrible oh well it’s only the first course,
anyways what’s on the menu today,
in this Showroom AKA Stolen Souls Salesroom’s display,
****** Nephews that resist rescue,
plus a side of drunken Lethargic Legume pate,
in other words intoxicated obnoxious Obscene Family Beans,
that are nostalgic for forgotten things that’ve long gone away,
& what have you on menu #2,
Locobutt Coconuts, crazy nuts Loony Tunes that lack values,
in other words hardheaded tropical crazy assed loons,
animated guys that apply topical gravy acid to cashews,
excuse me, did I offend you is that why you gave your opinion,
well opinions are like ******** & I’m sorry but I didn’t ask you,
I’ll harass you, if I want to, & harass her *** too,
I’m lampooned, lampin’ on a lagoon in a pontoon,
going gorillas, with my baboons in the full moon,
hope to not get harpooned too soon high as a kite at high noon,
call me Sun, or Sultan,
everyone is overdone, it’s insultin’,
brainwashed, & super spun,
the buzzer buzzed, the ***** laundry’s done,
hang it out to dry in the breeze,
air it out the window for everyone to see,
then look up at the sky, & tell me what you see,
one life at a time out here in San Franpsy, thunder & lightning,
here in San Franpsy, the sky, has a reddish haze,
smoke from Ukraine, magic mushrooms & acid rain,
we have all types of weather here in San Franpsycho,
slash your wrists just to check your vitals,
San Franpsycho, ****** psy-trance,
that Psy guy, with his Gangnam dance, dance monkey dance, strung out junkies, self made flunkies,
& 3rd rate rejects with a 2nd chance,
computer programmers,
digital techno gods,
programming the New World Order,
Zuckerberg & Steve Jobs,
& yeah the equation is way off,
but somehow we’ll even the odds,
even when Silk Road is taken down,
at the public library by out of town Federal Agents,
the caterpillars still make silk from mother’s milk,
still there are celebrations without any occasions,
from Hiroshima to Fukushima,
laughter from the hyphy hellish hyenas,
belly of the Beast sh!tting out diarrhea,
hey anyone have any memories for my ongoing amnesia,
or maybe some anesthesia for this creative creature,
jeez I can barely breath I need to leave but,
I’m disorientated deliriously stumbling around this arena,
where I was just served a subpoena to answer to Jesus,
but I’m not ready to leave just yet, enjoying the scenery bruh,
we’re all portraits portrayed in The Great Life Galleria,
& I’m enjoying the show laughing madly like the hellish hyenas,
tip toeing on eggshells a tipsy bombed out bombshell ballerina,
as if it’s all good ‘cause I haven’t seen a real life Hiroshima,
washing down a divine diva’s cleavage,
with medical marijuana margaritas,
shouting out “Eureka”, struck gold & made a deal with Jesus,
Christ, or Jackson,
like Mike, or Michael,
The mirrored man is the boogieman, nothing’s normal,
**** it all goes down in San Franpsycho,
thee end, is coming soon, do what you have to for survival…
They say, thee end’s coming soon,
thought there was more to say,
really though,
how much more can we say?
Lost,
amongst the chaos caught outside with a long way to go,
calm,
within the center inside everything comes 360° full circle...
from THHT3: Dark Lights | Bright Shadows
available worldwide: 9/9/19
Sep 6, 2019
Sep 6, 2019 at 7:11 PM UTC
From one
Many will come.
Like an echo
Continued in time;
Unique in their likeness
Universally the same;
Standing together, alone
Waving in unison,
As flags at the sun.
Life and colour
Is all they have,
That they share.
Aug 29, 2019
Aug 29, 2019 at 6:23 AM UTC
dear Susie,
i’m really sorry but i have to go.
it’s not you— oh, but it actually is.
for i loved you in the field of poppies,
all up to the moment you tasted the grey dust of a city air.
-oh, but it actually is you.
Jun 11, 2019
Jun 11, 2019 at 12:24 PM UTC
behind her bangs
she saw
in the field where she sat
was dusted
with violets and bright, ruby poppies
the sky was painted with gold and violet
hues of blue and pink.
behind the darkness of her eyes
she thought.
she opened them,
and saw that
ink had bled into the sky
deep purples
blacks and blues.
Jun 9, 2019
Jun 9, 2019 at 9:01 PM UTC
No Bumblebee.
No blackbird, swallow, swift or Robin.
No buttercups or poppies swaying in the breeze.
No hedgehog, weasel, stoat or mole
Almost silence.
Just one sound.
The sound of property developers chewing then choking on money.
May 27, 2019
May 27, 2019 at 3:47 PM UTC
In a crack
In the side walk
A few poppies
Grow out the crack
And sway in the summer
Breeze.
Mar 28, 2019
Mar 28, 2019 at 6:35 PM UTC