Monday 20 October 2014

Blood swept lands and seas of red

It started back on 4th August - the anniversary of Britain declaring war on Germany - and will continue until 11th November, "it" being an evolving installation at the Tower of London.  Gradually, volunteers are "planting" ceramic poppies in the moat, one for every Commonwealth serviceman killed during that conflict, all 888,246 of them.  The installation is entitled "Blood swept lands and seas of red", the first line of a poem written by an unknown World War I poet.

Photo: Paul Cummins

Every evening, at about sunset, the Last Post is sounded and names from the Roll of Honour are read.  The names are submitted by members of the public so I have today submitted the name of a distant cousin, just one day before the anniversary of his death in 1916.


2 comments:

Mike@Bit About Britain said...

That's very moving, BP. I'd really like to get down to see those poppies before they go.

#1Nana said...

What a beautiful and haunting display. I'd love to be able to see it in person. Thanks for posting about it.