The Red Poppy (rough demo)

by Charles de Lint

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about

I wrote this for Canadian Remembrance Day back in 2004 in thanks to the Veterans for their service to our country, and recorded this rough demo not long after.
This is the Legion's hundredth anniversary for their Poppy Fund. You can donate to them here:
legion.ca/remembrance/the-poppy-campaign/donate-to-the-poppy-fund

lyrics

I was just about your age, kid, when they shipped me overseas
I had a duffel bag to lean against, and a rifle between my knees
I was so scared as we crossed the sea, that I’d never come back home
but since I did, now I’m scared, of being all alone

why don’t you buy me a beer, kid, and sit with me a spell
I promise I won’t bend your ear, with the stories I could tell
about the things we saw, and the things we did, and how they won’t leave me
we’ll just raise our bottles in a toast, to their loving memory
‘cause...

this poppy that I wear, I don’t wear it for myself
I wear it to remember, those friends I left in hell
I never understood, how it came to be
that those boys died and I come home, to wear the red poppy

yeah, I’m here in the Legion Hall, pretty much every night
it’s awful’ quiet at my place, I can’t sleep without a light
I know it all happened long ago, in those lands across the sea
but when I close my eyes in the dark, it’s like yesterday to me

this poppy that I wear, I don’t wear it for myself
I wear it to remember, those friends I left in hell
I never understood, how it came to be
that those boys died and I come home, to wear the red poppy
yeah, I never understood, how it came to be
that those boys died and I come home, to wear the red poppy

credits

released November 9, 2021
Charles de Lint - vocals, guitar, harmonica

Tamson House Records

Written and recorded in Ottawa, ON, Canada
November 10, 2004

Cover photo by Charles de Lint.

© 2021 Written by Charles de Lint (Socan)
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about

Charles de Lint Ottawa, Ontario

A full-time writer and musician, this author of more than eighty adult, young adult, and children’s books has won the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. Modern Library's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century poll, voted on by readers, put eight of de Lint's books among the top 100. De Lint is also a poet, artist, songwriter, performer and folklorist. ... more

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