Thursday 1 May 2014

Cherry Blossom Death

I love all spring flowers, and especially cherry blossom. It is a bittersweet moment when it falls from the from the trees. It signals the start of summer, but at the price of the loss of spring beauty.

It looks like confetti - especially outside a church.



Did this couple have confetti at their wedding? Did they live a happy life?



I know this chap didn't. He is Robert Fergusson, modestly described by Robert Burns as "my elder brother in misfortune, by far my elder brother in the muse." His jaunty poetry chronicled life in Enlightenment Edinburgh, but he died in Edinburgh bedlam in 1774 at the age of 24.



I think he would like his statue. It is a big hit with tourists, especially younger ones. Not a day goes by without a group striding down Canongate behind him, Abbey Road style, while a friend takes their picture.


On Sunday here, an alter'd scene
O' men an' manners meets our een.
Ane wad maist trow, some people chose
To change their faces wi' their clo'es,
An' fain wad gar ilk neebour think
They thirst for gudeness as for drink;
But there's an unco dearth o' grace,
That has nae mansion but the face,
An' never can obtain a part
In benmost corner o' the heart.
Robert Fergusson - Auld Reekie

1 comment:

blueskyscotland said...

A new part of Edinburgh for me and some great pink snow. I've never observed it as thick as that before on the pavements either.