At The National Museum Of Scotland Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Blast off! Space Travel! Astronomic energy
A steam engine by Watt that powered a brewery
Sculpture, Art, Scots place in industry
Chinese tomb figure, the Tang dynasty
A glass roofed atrium, Victorian light
A Blue John vase in banded fluorite
The jaw bone of a whale from the woodlark
Where sailors cut scrimshaw to make their mark
Photograph of the zoo panda, Ching Ching
The grim carved head of a dead Benin king
An astrolabe and astronomical tools
Acasta gneiss from Canada, gold, jewels
Mercedes-benz coffin from the Ga of Ghana
Suspended canoes- Japanese Nō drama
R.L.Stevenson's Samoan fan
Haniwa horse tomb figure from Japan
Mexican opal, malachite, Siberia
Kingfisher head dress representing China
A Hindu painting of the Goddess Ganga,
Freize tiles inscribed in Arabic from Persia
Samurai warrior, netsuke, glass and jewellery
Porcelain storage jar, Joseon dynasty
Limestone carving of an Assyrian king
A prayer wheel house from monks of Samyé Ling
Thunderbird transformation mask and outfit
Amethyst geodes, fossils, Kenyan garnet
A Grecian amphora of Hercules
The Wolfson gallery, great sharks and trees
Coconut fibre armour, Kiribati
Portrait of Sirdar Iqbal Singh of Butley
The Darian chest, a relic of that scheme
Bonnie Prince Charlie's travelling canteen
Flags, drums, Morse code, satellite navigation
Shaping our world with new communication
Maiolica dishes-the Calini family
Porcelain lion, Messen, Germany
Sir James Black's famous find..the beta blocker
Panorama of tundra and Hugh Miller
Skeleton fossil of an ancient deer
The Monarch of the glen… Edwin Landseer
The Lewis chessmen, walrus ivory
Dunlop, Baird, bike tyre and the TV
Hunterston brooch. Carved Neolithic balls
Queen Mary's clarsach harp, once in royal halls
A loving cup produced by Edward Spencer
Two boys. A double coffin from Luxor
Monymusk reliquary, a house-shaped shrine
The Bute mazer- for shared communal wine
Windows on the world- the restless earth
Patterns of life- insights on Scotland's birth
Statue of James Watt, the famed engineer
Petrified wood donated by John Muir
Feast bowl from Atiu, the South Pacific
The sometsuke tradition of ceramic
Dounreay nuclear reactor, uranium glass
Lady Ivy Wu - a man's court dress,
Lulu, Ewan Mcgregor, Ian Rankin
Frock, screenplay, manuscript, all handed in
Sir Alexander Fleming's penicillin
Tyrannosaurus Rex, a fearsome villain
Connecting the world by Scottish inspiration
Imagine -Adventure Planet -next generation
Piper Laidlaw's medal won at Loos
Discovery zones- events- so much to choose
Torcs from the Iron Age -a printing press
So much to educate and to impress
Timorous beasties. The millennium clock
The silver silk suit of the grand Duke Lennox
A lighthouse lens- a cast iron drinking fountain
A 15th century crozier of St Fillan
Statue of Arensnuphis, Nubian guard
Shaman rattle, oyster catcher bird
The Buddha Amida. A whale hunt hat
Double- spout bottle with a spotted cat
Charles Rennie Mackintosh's copper lamp
Telephone kiosk with the royal stamp
Tibetan armour- iron lamellae
A wildlife panorama in the sky
A Karnak mummy of a senior priest
The Pembridge helm..a warrior's head peace
Soaring column -spreading balustrade
Blaschka models, miniscule, glass made
Dodo, a tiger, a svelte Burmese python
St George embroidered, destroying the dragon
A Scottish hydrographer, A. Dalrymple
A reliquary cask- electric fiddle
Travelling service, dining, toilette, sewing
Jean Jenkins, records of performers singing
Dolly the sheep -a simulated drive
A most eclectic, wonderful archive
A Cham dance skeleton, a feather collar
Sir Walter Scott the writer's hour glass timer
Napoleon's tea service of gilded silver
Mask and wig of a preaching covenanter
SS Nerbudda, model cargo ship
A book plate showing parliament in session
Where Scots democracy first found expression
Newcomen engine, Caprington colliery
Computer circuit board and tapestry
Lioness devouring man -a Roman sculpture
A silver hoard, St Ninian's island treasure
Lid of a grand piano, Phoebe Traquair
Furniture textiles rare and domestic ware
Four storeys- a cast-iron, glass, timber keep
Stupendous, brave in its wide ranging sweep