The milk of the poppy

"Truth, like the juice of the poppy, in small quantities, calms men; in larger, heats and irritates them, and is attended by fatal consequences in excess" - Walter Savage Landor, an English writer and poet.

As is the story of mankind's quest for freedom is inscribed on their history in blood of their dead soldier's silence; there are four things that support the world: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the good, and the valour of the brave - for valour grows by daring; whereas, fear by holding back. Thus, if there is a symbol to depict boldness and courage; determination and fearlessness; gallantry and heroism: the flower of the Poppy is that symbol.

Though the poppy has been the symbol of the dead and of sleep since antiquity, in modern times, it is the representation of courage: a courage that proves that courage is contagious and that when a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others often stiffen. In 1915, Punch magazine published a John McCrae poem titled: In Flanders Fields. McCrae, a Canadian soldier, had served in the Second Battle of Ypres in Flanders, Belgium.

He wrote In Flanders Fields after a friend died in battle, and buried with a simple wooden cross as a marker. The poem described similar mass graveyards on the fields of Flanders - fields that were alive with red poppies but now filled with the corpses of dead soldiers. The poem highlights the irony of war, where a soldier dies so that a nation of people lives. It also acts as a warning to the human race: If mankind will not end war, war will end mankind.

Scarlet

Hanging dew-dabbed on their stalks, in a scarlet tide spreading like fire, the Poppy opens her scarlet purse of dreams: for the Poppy is also a flower; yet, the juice of subtle virtue lies within its cup of curious dyes. The Poppy might be a frail snowy weed; but this flower of Mercy has within its heart, a drop serene for human need - a drowsy balm for every bitter smart, the Poppy hath a charm for pain and woe. Milk of the poppy is a medical drink, used as both a painkiller and an anaesthetic. Higher doses will induce unconsciousness, so patients can undergo surgery.

In ancient times, the Poppy was in common use to anesthetise those who have suffered severe injuries. Made from the crushed poppy flowers, it has a white colour, and hence the name: "milk of the poppy". Morphine too is, derived from poppy plants; and thereafter used to make heroin, another powerful narcotic.

Milky and sap-like opium is first removed from, the pod of the poppy flower. This opium is refined to make morphine, and further refined into different forms of heroin. Morphine, first extracted from opium resin in 1803, quickly gained popularity among doctors as a painkiller and was used widely in the U.S. Civil War and other conflicts. Even though morphine, to-a-large-extent, has been replaced by other drugs today, poppies are still an important source of the class of painkillers known as opiates. Many are the prescription-strength opiate medications derived from the poppy plant (Papaver somniferum), used in current medications. The Poppy is cultivated legally in Afghanistan, Mexico, Colombia, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Australia, and China.

Poppies

John McCrae's poem made poppies a symbol of the Great War. The red poppies of Flanders symbolise bloodshed. As a mark of respect, people lay wreaths of poppies on the graves of those who died at war. Many people wear red poppies on their lapels as a sign of remembrance; and to pay homage to the dead, people observe a moment of silence at 11.00 a.m. on Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day, also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day, is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. This day or in some cases an alternate date is, commemorated as a special day for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries as well. Remembrance Day is observed on November 11 to recall the end of hostilities of World War I. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month," in accordance with the Armistice.

World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. On Remembrance Day, people place floral wreaths on the gravestones of brave martyrs who died during the First World War.

The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

Fleshed

When all events of the past wither to mere skeletons, veined and fleshed though they may be, history and all its grisly facts become mere illusions of memory.

Then, as one sees a poppy flower, and gleams from remote past visit the soul as though in sleep - for the poppy is also a symbol of Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams - it reconnects us to a generation of heroes from the past we never knew. The greater achievement of that reconnect is not only that we are awakened to the valour of persons we never knew; but also that we have found a new arena along the way for our weary minds that have been saddened by the senselessness of the daily din, to learn something about ourselves.

Humans view themselves as dutiful, patient, original, compassionate, and mindful of the past without being rooted in it; but the past is never where you think you left it and its remembrance does not always give pleasure. All past has victors and losers and reminds me of John F. Kennedy's old adage: victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan. How many orphans have the world seen?

Even though the world observes Remembrance Day, honouring the brave hearts that died in a war - a war that killed more than eight million men from different nations and left many more disfigured and disabled - mankind has not made a promise to abjure war at any cost.

As a nation, we too have suffered from war; and as that well-known Remembrance Day quote by Argentine writer Jose Narosky goes, "In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."

Hence, let the poppy remind us that we stand united against war and will work to bring the world closer to peace and harmony.

Let us not be anesthetised by the milk of the poppy and forget that war has ruined the human race, and numbed its senses, its values. If not, we only confirm the illusion that we are an island of heroes with no debt to anyone else, no fraternity for anyone else.

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