Categories: FolkloreThe Hardmen

In Flanders Fields

You don’t have to be in Flanders very long before you start to breathe in the history of the area. Horrible things have happened in the fields across Northern France and Belgium, like the Battle of Waterloo and the Battle of the Bulge. These are the kinds of things that hang in the air for centuries; they seep into your blood.

There is a famous poem written by John McCrae that is worth reading. Its also been put to music by my favorite band, Big Head Todd and the Monsters.

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

Take a moment to remember the fallen with us.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Dan_R says:

Apr 4 2012 at 6:34 am

@El Mateo
Absolutely!
Flying Crowbar says:

Apr 4 2012 at 7:36 am

@wiscot
Wow. Very powerful.
frank says:

Apr 4 2012 at 11:19 pm

By the way, I've edited the article slightly to be more clear as to what region I was thinking of when I wrote this. Shoddy work, that.
Oli says:

Apr 5 2012 at 2:33 am

@frank
That's a tiny bit better, but if you're going to the effort of editing your homage to the terrible toll of death in Flanders, surely it wouldn't be much additional effort to mention as well (or instead) the actual battles that took place there?

As others have already said, battles such as Ypres, Passchendaele, and the Somme have much more relevance to the area and the poem than Waterloo and the Ardennes campaigns do, and I think mentioning them would show much more respect than those in which blood wasn't actually spilled in the area you're writing about!
C50Inglese says:

Apr 6 2012 at 3:27 am

@jimmy

Nice one Jimmy.
frank says:

Apr 6 2012 at 4:58 am

@Oli
Its not the effort, but the clarification, really. There's a difference between correcting a confusing statement and changing the message. If I changed the name of the battles, I feel I'd be taking something away from the great contributions made in the posts. That feels dishonest to me.
Oli says:

Apr 6 2012 at 5:33 am

@frank
Lots of people will judge the article, not the comments. It's not dishonest to own up to a mistake and correct it.
frank says:

Apr 6 2012 at 6:06 am

@Oli
I appreciate the input, but the article says now what I intended to say, and the community is adding the rest; for those people judging the article by the content and not the community, they are missing the point of Velominati. Cheers.
paolo says:

Apr 6 2012 at 8:44 am

@Oli

Actually lots of people won't judge at all.
ChrisO says:

Apr 6 2012 at 8:52 am

@Oli

@frank
Lots of people will judge the article, not the comments. It's not dishonest to own up to a mistake and correct it.

Yeah but that would make all the people who told Frank he was wrong look a bit silly... and Oli I would have thought you would be the last person to diminish the joy of correcting Frank ;-)