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Robert Lindner
Should auld acquaintance be forgot?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of 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
Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns
“Should auld acquaintance be
Forgot? And never brought to mind?” For me
The answer is, simply,
Tied to my memory.
Because with auld age, we
Forget Auld Lang Syne much too easily.
Even if I wished to
Remember Auld Lang Syne, it’s hard to do.
Memories go away
So fast. I often say,
What happened yesterday?
My brain’s made of Auld Lang Synes and finds new
Memories hard to make.
And old ones get in the mix to bake a cake
Without an oven. You
Can put the mix into
A pan, but it won’t do.
I keep trying not to make a mistake
With my Auld Lang Syne brain.
“What was that name or date?” drives me insane.
You can pretend to try
To remember. But why,
In December, should I
Remember Auld Lang Syne? My ancient train
Has left the station. So
Any attempt would be in vain. I know
That on New Year’s Eve when
Auld Lang Syne comes again
And I sing and open
The champagne that Auld acquaintance will flow
Into that ancient maze
That has become my mind. But I’ll still raise
My cup of kindness, yet
Knowing that I’ll forget
Acquaintances I‘ve met
Along the byways that measure my days
Of Auld Lang Syne, my dear,
Through the maze of days that have brought me here
To a New Year to sing
About me forgetting
And some other drinking
Songs that will make Auld Lang Syne disappear
So, “Should auld acquaintance
Be forgot? It will be. Since there’s no chance
That my Auld memory
Will bring it back to me,
Here is to what will be
Forgotten by me, as my years advance
“And never brought to mind.”
Because my aging brain is not designed
For Auld Lang Syne, my dear.
Though it has brought me here
To sing to a New Year
And to Auld Lang Synes it may never find.
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