The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime - 3 August 1914

Sir Edward Grey, the foreign secretary, had just returned from telling parliament that war was inevitable, and was talking in his office with his friend John Spender, the editor of the Westminster Gazette.

"The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime," Grey said.

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.