A Modern Tribute To Antiquity

A bit I have travelled, in the cities of this world Each with a history – a tale that can be told Through the lens of the roving tourist’s eye Who often does, with some wonder, sigh As an ancient tableau in a busy modern street He does - camera-ready – with much awe greet Or into a monument with a stellar, glorious past He might saunter and wonder about the cast Of characters who had with much energy wrought The fame and fortune that has become the city’s lot Or from the imposing zenith of its top-most spire A city view, its history and legacy admire. But no town has moved me to so much awe Than, when from Waverley first I saw The pomp and grandeur of Edinburgh city A modern tribute to antiquity. And though it has moved along with the times Through its buildings and festivals, history chimes For each brick and cobblestone is filled with the lore Of a Gaelic people in the days of yore. Not a castle, but a city straddling many a precipice For the architect, it most definitely is sheer bliss To career down streets that plunge like ravines And gaze up at spires that greet the heavens From the castle, the artist, photographer or poet Can never cease to admire this most splendid set The numerous shades of brown, black, green and blue As he gazes down at an all-embracing tableau Of craggy rock way beyond the deep-blue firth And architecture of immense historic worth And meadows with vast blankets of green That add to the city’s aura, its majestic sheen ‘Tis little wonder then, that simple, mere mortals Were by this city inspired to open the portals Of ideas, dictums and ambitions in depth incredible That they have, on history, made marks just as indelible As the ones this “alternation in height and depth” has made On every visitor who has, at least for a brilliant day stayed And listened to piping bands tell many diverse stories Of a city from which he will take away magnificent memories.