ANZAC Day Poems: Honouring Our Heroes

Today we are commemorating ANZAC Day by reflecting upon the immense sacrifice that soldiers in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps have made for us throughout history. Courage, endurance and companionship are all strongly associated with 'the ANZAC spirit', which is deeply embedded in both nations' cultures. Today we honour our heroes by collating some excerpts of Remembrance and ANZAC Day poems. 

They shall grow not old, 
as we that are left grow old; 
Age shall not weary them, 
nor the years condemn. 
At the going down of the sun 
and in the morning 
We will remember them. 

This excerpt, ‘The Ode’, has been taken from the fourth stanza of the poem ‘For the Fallen’, by British poet and writer Laurence Binyon. ‘The Ode’ has been emblematic for remembering those who lost their lives whilst serving their countries, and is often recited at ANZAC Day ceremonies and memorials. 

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. 

John McCrae wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ in 1915 after losing a close friend and witnessing poppies growing in battle-scarred fields. This poem is internationally renowned as it inspired the use of the poppy for commemorating all servicemen and women killed in conflict. 

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy? 
Selling poppies in town today.   
     The poppies, child, are flowers of love.   
     For the men who marched away. 

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy? 
Why not a beautiful rose?   
     Because my child, men fought and died   
     In the fields where the poppies grow. 

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy? 
Why are the poppies so red?   
     Red is the colour of blood, my child.   
     The blood that our soldiers shed. 

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy. 
Why does it have to be black?   
     Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.   
     For the men who never came back. 

But why, Mummy are you crying so? 
Your tears are giving you pain.   
     My tears are my fears for you my child.   
     For the world is forgetting again. 

A lesser-known, however deeply symbolic poem depicting a child curious about poppies. ‘The Inquisitive Mind of a Child’ is soul-stirring, as the reader pictures an innocent, young child starkly contrasted against the blood of soldiers on the battlefield. 

With their hair a little whiter, their step not quite so sure 
Still they march on proudly as they did the year before. 
Theirs were the hands that saved us, their courage showed the way 
Their lives they laid down for us, that we may live today. 

From Gallipoli’s rugged hillsides to the sands of Alamein 
On rolling seas and in the skies, those memories will remain. 
Of airmen and the sailors, of Lone Pine and Suvla Bay 
The boys of the Dardenelles are remembered on this day. 

They fought their way through jungles, their blood-soaked desert sands 
They still remember comrades who rest in foreign lands. 
They remember the siege of old Tobruk, the mud of the Kokoda Trail 
Some paying the supreme sacrifice with courage that did not fail. 
To the icy land of Korea, the steamy jungles of Vietnam 
And the heroic battle of Kapyong and that epic victory at Long Tan. 

Fathers, sons and brothers, together they fought and died 
That we may live in peace together, while at home their mothers cried. 
When that final bugle calls them to cross that great divide 
Those comrades will be waiting when they reach the other side. 

'A Tribute to ANZAC Day’ depicts some of the locations ANZAC soldiers were all too familiar with, which aids the reader in visualising some of these battlefield scenes.  

ANZAC Day is an extraordinarily important day of remembrance for those who made the greatest sacrifice in the name of their countries. We would like to conclude with this poignant excerpt: 
 
“What these men did nothing can alter now. The good and the bad, the greatness and  smallness of their story will stand. Whatever of glory it contains nothing now can lessen. It rises, as it will always rise, above the mists of ages, a monument to great-hearted men; and, for their nation, a possession forever.”  

- [Charles Bean, Official History of World War I, p1096] 

If you’re fascinated by the history surrounding ANZAC Day, our ANZAC on the Western Front tour maps Australian and New Zealand troops’ movements in WWI – delving into the stories of the soldiers’ involvement in the battles of the Western Front.