Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Poppy Flowers



A friend of mine showed me these for the first time- I love them!
Does anyone know where a field of them grow? I am sure not till the Spring but I want to go see it!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

i had to sing a song about these in middle school.. .it was really sad.. they were the flowers used to put on the graves of soldiers who died in WWI or something like that... they are really pretty i thought they only grew in like west virginia or something but i could have made that up! haha just thought i'd tell you about that

Emily said...

well mabye we should take a road trip in the Spring!

Peter Brackney said...

Megan is on target. "In Flander's Field" is a famous poem written by John McCrae - the most famous poem from WWI. The text is as follows:

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.

It should be noted that a road trip to Kabul, Afghanistan would also find much poppy. The flower is the source of the drug, opium, the biggest cash crop in that country. The drug trade their has seen a strong reemergence since a weaker government has been brought in by the United States, overthrowing the stronger Taliban.

Nice job, Bushie.

Shannon said...

in the Wizard of Oz, all of the characters fall asleep in the a poppy field (there yellow in the movie) on the way to Oz. I love that movie!

Emily said...

so peter- i like a drug flower? and that would make sense that they were in the Wizard of OZ... i still love them though

Peter Brackney said...

yes... you like opium. interestingly enough, Karl Marx is attributed with the following quote: "Religion is the opiate of the people."

So, you actually like all forms of the poppy!

Oh, yeah, and a non-drug derivative - poppy seeds (like in salad dressing) is very tasty!

Anonymous said...

dang i'm smart... i got that right!!! plus, i WOULD know all about a drug flower!! haha just kidding i like this blog and i'm totally down for a road trip to see poppy fields... one more thing... now that i see the words to that poem... i totally remember the song and i'm singing it as we speak it's pretty emotional! lyb