Poppies at The Tower of London, entitled "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red." The work's title is taken from the first line of a poem by an unknown World War I soldier, which begins: The blood swept lands and seas of red, / Where angels dare to tread / (Source)
How the poppies were made
The poem that inspired the title for Paul Cummins' work:
Written by an unknown soldier poet it reads:
“The blood swept lands and seas of red,
Where angels dare to tread.
As God cried a tear of pain as the angels fell,
Again and again.
As the tears of mine fell to the ground
To sleep with the flowers of red
As any be dead
My children see and work through fields of my
Own with corn and wheat,
Blessed by love so far from pain of my resting
Fields so far from my love.
It be time to put my hand up and end this pain
Of living hell. to see the people around me
Fall someone angel as the mist falls around
And the rain so thick with black thunder I hear
Over the clouds, to sleep forever and kiss
The flower of my people gone before time
To sleep and cry no more
I put my hand up and see the land of red,
This is my time to go over,
I may not come back
So sleep, kiss the boys for me”
