Colinton Tunnel.
The mural in the tunnel follows a theme taken from the poem ‘From A Railway Carriage’, originally published in Robert Louis Stephenson book ‘A Child’s Garden Of Verses’
Robert would have ridden the Colinton Railway as a child and the poem is said to have been inspired by the journey. His Grandfather was the vicar at the local Manse.
As a child and also into adulthood Robert was unwell with a chronic lung disease, during times when he was suffering he mainly concentrated on children’s verse being too unwell to focus on his long format writing.
Faster than fairies, faster than witches, Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; And charging along like troops in a battle, All through the meadows the horses and cattle: All of the sights of the hill and the plain Fly as thick as driving rain; And ever again, in the wink of an eye, Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, All by himself and gathering brambles; Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; And there is the green for stringing the daisies! Here is a cart run away in the road Lumping along with man and load; And here is a mill and there is a river: Each a glimpse and gone for ever!
