Yesterday as a family we went to the City of London to see the greatest public art work produced in the UK since the Second World War.

Entitled “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” it covers the moat of the Tower of London with a sea of crimson poppies. Each one represents a British or Commonwealth soldier who died in the First World War.

It seems to us suitable to mark the 96th anniversary of the end of the war and centenary of its start with the poem which inspired this work. Written by an unknown soldier poet it reads:

“The blood swept lands and seas of red,
Where angels dare to tread.
As God cried a tear of pain as the angels fell,
Again and again.
As the tears of mine fell to the ground
To sleep with the flowers of red
As any be dead
My children see and work through fields of my
Own with corn and wheat,
Blessed by love so far from pain of my resting
Fields so far from my love.
It be time to put my hand up and end this pain
Of living hell. to see the people around me
Fall someone angel as the mist falls around
And the rain so thick with black thunder I hear
Over the clouds, to sleep forever and kiss
The flower of my people gone before time
To sleep and cry no more
I put my hand up and see the land of red,
This is my time to go over,
I may not come back
So sleep, kiss the boys for me”

The installation ends in the next few weeks but if you have the opportunity to visit before the end of November we strongly recommend that you do so. If you can you can make a donation here.