New Year\u2019s Eve never seems complete until someone plays and\/or sings Auld Lang Syne.\u00a0 I am not sure how that happened.\u00a0 This is actually a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788.\u00a0 I am relative sure that few people know much more than the first chorus.<\/p>\n
Auld Lang Syne<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Chorus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n For auld lang syne, my jo, Frankly, I am not sure many people understand the first verse and the chorus.\u00a0 What does it mean to forget old acquaintance?\u00a0 How is that helpful.\u00a0 I sometimes thing we sing Auld Lang Syne only because we sing Auld Lang Syne and some how it feels right. It doesn\u2019t have to make sense.<\/p>\n In addition, Robert Burns may have \u201cborrowed\u201d<\/strong> the most familiar lyrics from a poen written by James Watson in 1711.<\/p>\n In some ways, Watson\u2019s poem \u201cOld Long Syne\u201d<\/strong> is easier to understand:<\/p>\n Old Long Syne<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, On Old long syne.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Chorus<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n On Old long syne my Jo, \u00a0The comparison between the two poems is pretty obvious.\u00a0 I at least understand the James Watson version.\u00a0 New Year\u2019s Day is a good time to remember times gone by and particularly old friends.\u00a0 It is a time to focus more on the future than on the past, but also to appreciate the pure joy of living. It is only by pausing to remember that we can truly appreciate all the blessings we have.<\/p>\n It is also a time to let bygones be bygones and to focus on what really matters. There is probably no better example of this than the life long relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.\u00a0 They were close friends who worked together on the Declaration of Independence.\u00a0 They both were representatives of the Colonies in France.\u00a0 John Adams was the second President of the United States.\u00a0 Thomas Jefferson was the third. \u00a0Political divisions drove them apart. The closest of friends became the bitterest of enemies. They went many years without contacting each other at all.\u00a0 But then, later in life, they were able to put aside the bitter disputes and were able to once again reflect on the things that united them.\u00a0 Both of them died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826.\u00a0 I am sure that when James Watson wrote Old Long Syne in 1711 he didn\u2019t have Adams and Jefferson in mind.\u00a0 But they lived out what Old Long Syne\/Auld Lang Syne is all about.<\/p>\n Happy New Year.<\/p>\n TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New Year\u2019s Eve never seems complete until someone plays and\/or sings Auld Lang Syne.\u00a0 I am not sure how that happened.\u00a0 This is actually a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788.\u00a0 I am relative sure that few people … Continue reading
\nAnd never brought to mind?
\nShould auld acquaintance be forgot,
\nAnd auld lang syne.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nFor auld lang syne,
\nWe’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
\nFor auld lang syne,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nand never thought upon;
\nThe flames of Love extinguished,
\nand fully past and gone:
\nIs thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
\nthat loving Breast of thine;
\nThat thou canst never once reflect<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOn Old long syne,
\nThat thou canst never once reflect,
\nOn Old long syne.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n