In Flodden Field

Above is a 1942 family photo of Crookham Manse where my husband Paul lived during his wartime childhood when his father was the village minister. The church and its garden were converted to a Peace and Reconciliation Centre in 2013 to commemorate the 5th centenary of the Battle of Flodden.

In Flodden Field the flowers grow
among the grasses, row on row
that mark our place; and in the sky
the birds, still softly singing, fly
unheard by us who lie below.

We are the Dead. Long years ago
we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
lowed and were loved, and now we lie
in Flodden Field.

Defuse the conflicts with your foe:
to you from wasted hands we throw
the Torch of Peace; yours to hold high.
If you break faith with us who die
we shall not sleep, though flowers grow
in Flodden Field.

This family photo is of the fields and River Till at the bottom of the manse garden where Paul used to play and help with the harvest as did all the village kids. Crookham is named after the acute bend in the river. More famously, in 1513 the English army marched across these fields on the way to Branxton just over a mile away to do battle with the Scots with massive losses on both sides felt for generations to come.

 I adapted In Flodden Field from World War I poet John McCrae's In Flanders Fields. Our journey along the Western Front in 2002 and researching the Battle of Flodden makes the comparison between these two muddy, bloody battlefields unavoidable as it did for local resident and guide, Clive Hallam-Baker, in his 2012 book, The Battle of  Flodden.