For Auld Lang Syne

The words "for auld lang syne" translate into modern English as something like, "for old time's sake." The song we sing on New Year's Eve is a Scottish poem, written by Robert Burns in 1788, and is a melancholy farewell.

Every day, we say so long to so much, old times that will never return except as memories. Most of the time we don't really think about it in the rush and crush of life, not noticing the changes, the losses, only to be reminded of them in spurts, in reflective moments, or when confronted suddenly by something that evokes days that are gone. Sometimes what we have lost overwhelms us, like the passing of a loved one, but most of the time, we mourn our losses with something like a song, raising a glass with a tear in our eye, then moving on in hope to create some more.

I look forward to the new year with eagerness even as I know it will, like this past year, be full of things to which I'll say goodbye, something I've done 61 time already. So let's do it again today with one more toast. Let's tak' a cup o' kindness yet, for days of auld lang syne.

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