This is our exceptional city

This creation of stone upon rock,

This sudden eruption of skyline,

This sweep of classical regularity

Imagined against a background

Of hills and a coastal plain

Sedate in its attitude to the sea;

This is an expression of the regular

In a world that is sometimes disconcerting,

A world where chaos and disorder

Are ready to put up a good fight;

This is the capital of a country

That was often late at the party

But that is reassuringly easy

To love with one’s eyes open.

Almost a millennium ago

Our predecessors thought

That this would be a good place

To think of permanence;

Their first concern was security

And the design of a city wall

To keep the uninvited at bay;

But more than that, what followed

Was the building of a habitation

That was to them an expression

Of the beautiful; ornament

Was given its proper place,

And the human scale was always

The standard by which additions

Were measured; architectural beauty

Cannot always be commanded,

But is suddenly there, tactful,

Ready to make us catch our breath,

Ready to console us, in harmony.

Inheritors as we are today

Of a gift of beauty, we might remember

That it speaks with a soft voice,

Whispers to us as we stand

And watch the sun touch with butter-gold

This sometimes shy and reticent city,

That whispers to us: look, the clouds

Pass lightly over Fife, the morning rain

Glistens on New Town sets,

In Princes Street Gardens gently

The wind moves through the public trees;

Look, this is a place to engrave

Upon the memory, this is a city

To love with all your impatient heart,

This is a city at which angels

In their flight might well marvel,

This is a city in which a life replete

With art and music might be lived,

This is a city to guard against the night.