Was watching the Edinburgh Tattoo on youtube

[Utah Bob #35998]

Thinking maybe I might go next year.
And I wrote thisn
 

The Pipes

 

“Aye, those are the pipes ya hear. The pipes and drums for sure”

In the dim lamplight I heard the Tattoo and the voice of a soul long dead

“Many’s the time in days long past when that sound so clear and pure

Rose over the battlefields stirring my blood and filled the foe with dread”

 

 

“A sound that moves a man to do what some say can’t be done

A sound that gets in your soul my boy” whispered that voice in my ears

A sound that wails of old defeats and many victories won

And that sound can stir an old Guardsman to think of younger years

 

You can hear the drums beat like your heart in dark and stormy weather

It can swell the heart with pride you know and thoughts of hearth and home

It echoes through the highlands an cross the brilliant heather

It’s a longing for a fair young lass who weeps so when you roam

 

 

A mother smiles and thinks of youthful courtship by the sunny loch

A father hears the pipes cry out and ponders on his young son’s fate

An enemy of freedom tries so hard in vain his ears to block

But once the Scots are close enough to hear the pipes it’s much too late

 

Throughout the history of this land the pipes have always sung their song

A young babe’s lulled to gentle sleep by one lone piper far away

They’ve sung from Inverness to London and as far as old Hong Kong

A lad of ten will raise the pipes his father’s father used to play

 

And then the whispered voice began to fade as did the pipes’ old tunes

Until the evening silence once more made the icy night so still

The pipes endure and always will as timeless as those ancient runes

The lamplight fades but my soul warms and hearing pipes it always will.

[ShadowCatcher]

It's magical.  I've been, and there's nothing like it.  August in Edinburgh is a mad house - if you really

want to go you need to arrange lodging now - they usually book a year out.  The lone piper playing from the

battlements at end of show each night will send chills down your spine. 

Every time I hear that I look for my sword and horse, and am ready to go forth!

 

 

[The Blarney Kid]

My wife and I saw it in '79 while I was stationed in Thuso in northern Scotland. We toured Edinburgh and the castle before the Tattoo.  

[Major Crimes]

They bring it down to Australia every now and then- kill two birds with one stone