Talk Talk:

Memorial Day is a national holiday; banks are closed, schools, most businesses, too. People get together with their families, cook out, and mark the beginning of summer. Here in South Florida where so many people are recent immigrants every year someone asks, “But what is Memorial Day?”

Decoration Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. The most popular poem associated with this day is “In Flanders Fields.” It was written by a Canadian, John McCrae, and refers to the First World War.

In Flanders Fields
John McCrae, 1915.

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.