Poppies and snowdrops

Poppies and snowdrops

A blood red symbol of the field of war,
the poppy stands and bows its head before
the wind that sweeps its petals to the skies,
until the field is black and colour dies.

A frail, white symbol of a winter passed,
the snowdrop’s bud breaks through iron ground at last
and, with bravado, lifts a fragile flower,
defiant through each icy, wintry shower.

A memory, a hope, one red, one white:
red comforts and white sings through sorrow’s night.

©Marjorie Dobson 10/8/2005