Mrs. Nancy Webster had asked me to include the following poem by her

late husband, Archie, who was well-known not only in Strathkinness and St.

Andrews but further afield, especially for his Burns recitations. She gave it

to me only a few days before her own sudden death, and I would like it to be

a tribute to both Archie and Nancy who each contributed so much to the

village.

The Kinnessburn

Astandin by a rippling stream

Reflecting clear the sunlight’s beam

Aglitterin by the haws and haughs

With banks o’ threshes an o’ saughs

What scenes you pass both sad an gay

Before you reach St. And rews bay.

I think near Clatto you begin

Into a streamlet for ta run

By Magus Tongues and Burnside

Whose field drains help to swell yer tide;

O’er many a boulder ye dae spill

An’ on ye run by Denbrae mill

When nature in her summer sheen

On Lawm ill hangs her mantle green

The drooping boughs a hanging low

lnto thy darkling mirror show

Still ever on through the Lade Braes

Where beauty every season stays.

The old grey city ye run by

Wi’ many a spire and tower on high

How much a bard could write and rhyme

Bout what happened once upon a time,

And like the waters o’ the burn

Are past now never to return.

A.M. Webster.

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