Bloodswept Lands and Seas of Red

That is the title of Paul Cummins' and Tom Piper's installation of ceramic poppies that fill the moat of the Tower of London. New poppies are being added daily and by 11th November 2014 they will number exactly 888,246 flowers: one for each British life lost in the 1914-1918 war. It is truly breathtaking in its scale and poignant beauty: instant lump in the throat at the visual impact of what that war cost our country. To imagine the human cost across the globe, is even more mind-boggling. What a waste of life from all nations involved!

Although our trip to London was primarily to visit our son and his wife, we were glad to have seen this emotional installation. The sheer size of the crowd of visitors was awesome, too.

While some politicians are pleading to have the duration of this exhibition extended, to allow more people to see it, I believe the artists are keen that it should not run longer than the planned end after 11th November. To extend it would undermine its conceptual theme of the transience and fragility of life, tied as it is to the anniversary of the onset of The Great War.

I know as I've been privileged to see it, it's easy to say, but ... I'm inclined to agree with the artists. The art shocks! Dragging it arbitrarily beyond the anniversary of Armistice Day would lessen the shock and diminish its artistic and commemorative purpose.