The Poppy Garden

I suppose I should probably take the time to explain why I chose to name my blog The Poppy Garden. As with the name Shepen, I have tried to make it a reflection of my personality as it is now and reflect my interests as well. The interest I took in poppies arose from two main sources: John McCrae's poem from 1915 entitled In Flanders Fields, and the primary myth of Sekhmet, the Destruction of Mankind (you have to scroll down a bit to see the translation). In his poem, McCrae describes the haunting scene of poppies blooming in a battlefield graveyard, each one blood red with a cross in the center. In the Destruction of Mankind, the Goddess Sekhmet is sent by Re to slay rebelloius humans, but goes into a blood frenzy and is only placated by being tricked into drinking a lake of beer dyed red which She mistakes for blood. In both examples you see themes of beauty, death, sleep, and rememberance, all of which can be associated with the poppy flower. And both sets of verse come from times and places that I have been intensely interested in for a long time. So here I will plant my thoughts and things that catch my interest, be they beautiful, terrible, or both. And with them my virtual garden will grow...