As I walked the streets of Scotland

I was the tourist from a different land

Where the skirts are worn by the man

And their ways of life I try to understand.

Where golf was invented and so was Peter pan

Also was whiskey and the Scottish clan

Where Jekyll and Hyde had first began

And where Robert the Bruce once did stand.

As I strolled the streets of Dalkeith

I smiled at the Scots that I did meet

Their ways of life I found strange but unique

Where the mind is strong and the souls not weak.

At the churches I heard the pastors preach

Then in the pubs at night more souls they’d teach

Religion and salvation is out of no ones reach

So they passed another verse and a pint to me.

As I roamed the streets of Edinburgh

Seeing the castle upon its perch

The Poets and authors which I did search

While listening to the music and the word.

Where the Bard Robert Burns once did work

Also the killing fields of Hare and Burke

Where the Greyfrairs Bobby once did lurk  

And also the the home of the Presbyterian Kirk.  

As I walked the streets of Dalkeith

I Remembered the lassies that I did meet

Then upon the streets of Edinburgh

Where my knowledge of poetry was given birth

I had walked the streets alone in Scotland

Where history and beauty I held its hand

Now I am back home in the United States

I realize Scotland, she was my destiny and my fate.

RANDY L. McCLAVE