Before

We go for a walk through Flanders Field,

Where something happened 100 years ago;

What it was I can’t recall

Though mum tried so hard to tell me so.

Mum tried to make me pay attention,

But I was distracted by the field’s red glow,

So when she asked what I had learned

I told the truth: I didn’t know.

But I finally listened to what she said,

When we reached the rows of white concrete heads,

She told me this plot was relatively small

Though my eye could not reach them all.

And she helped me  read out the imprinted names

As we wandered and wandered about the graves,

Mum told me we must never forget their sacrifice,

That it’s because of them we live free lives.

How lucky I am that my mum told me,

She took the time to help continue the history,

Now I can begin to understand what happened before,

And the importance of the peace they were fighting for.