The Braid Burn is a burn or stream 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) in length that flows through south and east Edinburgh.
The burn forms near Bonaly in the Pentland Hills south-west of the city, when the Bonaly and Howden burns that flow from the Pentlands meet. From there, it flows in a generally north-easterly direction, skirting the Braid Hills to the east and south, via the Braid Valley Park, the Hermitage of Braid, Blackford Glen, Cameron Toll and Inch Park. On reaching Peffermill it is joined by the Jordan Burn, and at Duddingston its name changes to the Figgate Burn. It flows on to enter the Firth of Forth at Portobello.
The area of the basin drained by the burn and its tributaries amounts to 30.5 square kilometres (11.8 sq mi). The burn rises quickly after rain, and can become very large when in spate. 80 per cent of the catchment area of the burn is in the lower urban section, the other portion being south of the Edinburgh City Bypass.
The burn flows through part of its course in a gorge cut by glacial meltwater that exposed a weakness in the rock. Prior to this, the burn took a more southerly course around Blackford Hill. The gorge also prevented the building of houses along parts of the course, so the burn flows for several miles through parkland.
dressed up with my sister
i was a bat and she was a fly
now we're a little bigger
still we have to cry
pine by the sea my namesake
soon will rot away
watch the beetles eat bark
on another day
our mama will no longer be
on this land by the sea
i push away i beg and plea
you will no longer come with me
tree bones will die alone