“Should auld acquaintance be forgot, /And never brought to mind? / Should auld acquaintance be forgot, / And auld lang syne! / For auld lang syne, my dear, / For auld lang syne, / We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet / For auld lang syne!” The lyrics of Robert Burns. The old lyrics were dusted off and given life again late last night as they are every New Year’s Eve.
“A Flower unblown: a Book unread; / A Tree with fruit unharvested: / A Path untrod; a House whose rooms / Lack the heart’s divine perfumes: / This is the Year that for you waits / Beyond Tomorrow’s mystic gates.” The words of Horatio Nelson Powers.
Last night we welcomed in the New Year at a small house party just a few blocks away from where we live. A wonderful time was had by all in attendance. The hosts had set up a “Wish Table” in a quiet upstairs nook where each guest was invited to “anonymously” write “What Are You Grateful For?” and their “New Year’s Resolutions.” On the table set before a small upstairs window was a candle burning and two antique coffeepots where the writings were to be placed inside. The host played his accordion and the New Year was ushered in with a rousing rendition of Robert Burns‘ classic New Year’s anthem. After the last vigorous chorus, the children gathered in front of their parents and read the slips of paper written by all in attendance. It was a poignant moment in time as we learned what each and every one of us had to be thankful for, as well as what our secret hopes were for the New Year.
“Ring out the old, ring in the new, / Ring, happy bells, across the snow: / The year is going, let him go; / Ring out the false, ring in the true.” Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Benjamin Franklin wrote: “Be at War with your Vices, at Peace with your Neighbours, and let every New Year find you a better Man.” Most of these New Year’s quotes are from the collection, “Merry Christmas: Festive Stories, Songs, Poems, Recipes, and Gift Ideas for the Holidays” by Barbara Milo Orbach, published in 1992 by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, New York.
This is an excerpt from the 1990 edition of “The Friendship Book Of Francis Gay,” published by D. C. Thomson and Company. Gay writes: “At this time of year when we are looking back over the past, and thinking of the future, and perhaps making new resolutions, we might well remember the words of an anonymous writer: ‘He is happiest who is a miser of good memories and a spendthrift of good deeds.’”
My son and I were out this morning shoveling our driveway and those of a few neighbours’ after last night’s wintry welcome to 2008. It was our first opportunity to wish those neighbours a “Happy New Year”. The moment also reminded me of this excerpt from the 1966 edition of “The Friendship Book Of Francis Gay” again published by D. C. Thomson and Company. “One year. Twelve months. Fifty-two weeks. Three hundred and sixty-five days. No matter how you look at it, it’s a long time. And, yet, has it really been long enough to do all the things we should have done, and meant to do, and would have done, if only we hadn’t been so busy.?
“But now we have a new year ahead of us. One year in which to live a better life. Twelve months to spend helping our neighbours. Fifty-two weeks in which to make new friends and to cement old friendships. Three hundred and sixty-five days to pray for a better world.”
“Now the New Year reviving old Desires, / The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires.” Omar Khayyam.
“Happy New Year” from all your friends here at CHFI. Thank you for your continued support of my nighttime radio program, “Lovers and Other Strangers.”
I’d like to leave you with one more wish. A lot of blogs and programs over the holiday season had the words and sentiments of Charles Dickens embedded deeply within. Here’s one last wish from the writer: “Many merry Christmases, many happy New Years. Unbroken friendships, great accumulations of cheerful recollections and affections on earth, and heaven for us all.”
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Don Jackson
