Remembrance Day: What is the poem read at Remembrance Day Services

Act or Remembrance will take place up and down the country on November 11.

The Last Post will sound and be followed by a two-minute silence, as we remember all those lost in conflict.

The end of the silence will be marked by the Reveille.

Before the Act of Remembrance though, The Ode will be read.

But what is The Ode?

We will remember them

‘The Ode’ – as it is commonly known – is taken from a poem written by the English poet Laurence Binyon.

It was first published in The Times on September 21, 1914, and has been recited at commemorative services since 1919.

The Ode is the fourth verse of Binyon’s poem For the Fallen.

It reads:

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

"Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning

"We will remember them."

For the Fallen

This is For the Fallen, by Lawrence Binyon in full:

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,

England mourns for her dead across the sea.

Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,

Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal

Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.

There is music in the midst of desolation

And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;

They sit no more at familiar tables at home;

They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,

Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,

To the innermost heart of their own land they are known

As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,

Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,

As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,

To the end, to the end, they remain.