Christina A. Sharik

THE ANGEL OF FLANDERS

Awarded: May 25, 2005In Flanders’ Field, the poppies blow ~
an old, familiar phrase –

That was a war so long ago;
we can’t picture it these days.

Still, every war is much the same
claiming life and limb

mothers of men, in the here and now
still pray at night for them.

There are angels on the battlefields
whether in desert, or fields of moss

angels that wear a brilliant red
and carry a heavy cross;

they watch, and they wait and
then they appear
at the murmuring moment of loss.

The Red Cross (allegory of Flanders war graves)
“A Christ of the Battlefield” Painting by Evelyn de Morgan, 1916