“Can NOT and Do NOT want to Forget anyone”

Jan 19th “Can NOT and Do NOT want to Forget anyone”

This may not be a “NEW YEAR’s” to you – but to me – everyone in the FAMILY – is having their BIRTHDAY coming up – one week and or day – all celebrating Happy TIMES – whether they are here on EARTH – or and, even if they went on to the GREAT BEYOND – but, I know that they want to hear from me! D.V.

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus. For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
Sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

And there’s a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

Auld Lang Syne’ is, of course, among the most recognisable poems or songs written in English, thanks to its popularity at New Year celebrations around the world. The last line should technically be ‘For auld lang syne’ rather than ‘For the sake of auld lang syne’ – the three extra syllables are usually added to avoid stretching that monosyllabic ‘For’ for – well, for a long, long time, but they aren’t in the original (whoever the ‘original’ might have been by).

To ‘tak a right gude-willie waught’ may sound borderline rude, but it actually means simply ‘take some good will’ or ‘have a drink together’. So, now we know. And while we’re glossing words, ‘jo’ means ‘joy’ (in ‘my jo’), ‘ye’ll be your pint stowp’ means ‘you’ll pay for your pint cup’, ‘braes’ are slopes, to have ‘pou’d the gowans’ is to have pulled the daisies, and your ‘fitt’ is your foot. A ‘burn’, of course, is a stream, while ‘dine’ is dinner-time. ‘Braid’ means broad, and your ‘fiere’ is your friend.

Like many good songs, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ has a refrain, and is organised into quatrains rhyming abcb, with the last line iterating the title, ‘Auld Lang Syne’. How many people link arms and sing the song every New Year without being aware either of the title’s meaning or the fact that Robert Burns never wrote it?

And this next few lines – I can still hear my MOTHER quoting “Robert Burns” and saying these words, exactly as they should be said – as only someone, from Ireland can do!

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!

‘To a Louse’, a poem written in the Habbie dialect, sees Robert Burns musing upon the louse that he spots crawling on a lady’s bonnet in church – the louse does not observe class distinctions and regards all human beings equally, as potential hosts. As Burns concludes, ‘O wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!’ Such a power or ability would save us a lot of bother and ‘foolish notions’; but we cannot see ourselves as others see us. The one thing we cannot do is take the view of that louse.

“Seriously please tell me if you see bugs in my hair. That’s disgusting.”