Poppies torn asunder,

We all watch in wonder

As the world comes crashing down.

To witness – but not act.

Those who could have taught,

Have forgotten how,

And we have never learned.

Wars of words.

Row on row of stone

Will tell you no one wins.

If you can stop the fierce typing

Long enough

To look. To listen.

They will tell you

No one wins.

And so it goes, the fog rolls in,

Obscures the memory

Of blood and grit

That littered battlefields of old;

Splintering gore

Once cut to the core

Now faded from even omnipresence.

It fails to impress,

So that green can grow once more.

The above is a poem I wrote years ago, inspired by “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae. I think of it as both an ode and a considered update to McCrae’s writing. His poem offers a message of remembering and honoring dead soldiers who want to pass on their legacy and encourage others to keep fighting the good fight. That’s important. But, there’s more to be said about fighting, especially in the wars of words we are inundated by on social media today. Frankly, in my humble opinion, all the fighting is an exercise in futility, because time marches on and sooner or later makes corpses of us all. G-d willing, memories will endure, and serve to inspire.