Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot

The English Department wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday. As the students depart for winter break, the department blog is also taking a short hiatus. We will be back online with our weekly posts when the new semester begins in mid-January.

Until then, we leave with you a classic holiday poem: Robert Burns’ “Auld Lang Syne.”

SHOULD auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to min’?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And days o’ lang syne?

We twa hae rin about the braes,

And pu’d the gowans fine;

But we’ve wander’d monie a weary fit

Sin’ auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’t i’ the burn,

Frae mornin’ sun till dine;

But seas between us braid hae roar’d

Sin’ auld lang syne.

And here ’s a hand, my trusty fiere,

And gie’s a hand o’ thine;

And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught

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 lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet

For auld lang syne.

For those of us not fluent in Burns’ native Scots, The Oxford Book of English Verse provides the following glosses:

gowans] daisies. fit] foot. dine] dinner-time. fiere] partner. guid-willie waught] friendly draught.