The Poppies – Were We Too Quick To Uproot Them?

2014 marks 100 years since the beginning of WWI. There have been countless memorials throughout this poignant year in a range of mediums, but none have roused the nation’s interest quite like the poppies at The Tower of London.

They were always intended to be ephemeral but, when the time came for them to be uprooted, there was widespread demand for the poppies to stay a little longer. Some people were desperate to see them and hadn’t had the opportunity.

I was torn about this proposal. Having been one of the fortunate few who got to gaze upon them (and by few, I mean millions), I can appreciate the longing to witness such a monumental spectacle. They were vast and gasp-inducing. Poignant, sad and beautiful. Not only were the poppies an incredibly expressive memorial, but a unique exhibition that became daily national news.

Part of me felt that everyone who wanted to make the pilgrimage should be granted the time to complete the trip. However, a bigger part of me would have been disappointed if they’d stayed. It was the fleeting quality of the poppies that made them so desirable. If they had remained in place, they would have become invisible, or at least less exceptional. The urgency to see them was one of the things that made them precious.

We must also remember that there is a sacred quality that can only be found in transient existence. After all, the essence of the artwork was to represent the loss of 888,264 lives. Surely to retain the display would have undermined this message. It was symbolic of loss and missed opportunities.

With each poppy planted, the instalment grew momentum, to be culled just a day after its beautiful, terrible climax. The fresh and vivid display was destroyed in its prime. It is not difficult to draw important, poignant parallels between the flowers and the lives they represented. That, of course, was the point. It was not beautiful for the sake of it; existing only to delight the onlooker and therefore obliged to please them with no higher purpose. It meant something that was more important than the disappointment of latecomers. The poppies had to go.

I’m pleased that the decision was made.

It is true that those who didn’t see the vast poppy display missed something special. It is important to remember, however, that they didn’t miss the opportunity to remember. Although the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red were profoundly, desperately moving, nobody needs to stand in front of a field of ceramic flowers in order to pay their respects. We are all blessed and cursed with that terrible privilege.

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