Hillside Crescent Gardens, designed by William Henry Playfair. The trees were planted 200 years ago. Today you can adopt a tree through the Tree Time Project including a small plaque.
Plaque on a Tree in the Park:
Dedicated to
the mother of an immigrant,
who loves Scotland
from afar,
for treating her child with respect.
A venerable park
of tall sycamore and ash,
smooth beech and craggy horse chestnut
brought here and planted
putting down roots
those centuries ago, to make
the park where we play
you and I
the brown-eyed toddler and the blue-eyed crone
immigrants both
and both at home
under the trees
My now 3-year-old grandson was born in Jakarta and came to Scotland a year and a bit ago. I was born in Toronto and I’ve been here close to 50 years. We both stand out as different – he with his looks and me every time I open my mouth. ‘Where you from?’ is a sentence that has been and will be part of both our lives, in all the different ways those words can be said. When I saw the plaque on the tree in Hillside Crescent Gardens, I could see that mother, and yes, respect is what she would be grateful for – the chance for her child to be not-the-same and still thrive. I’m grateful too.
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