A friend sent this to me and I think it says everything we would wish for you and your family in 2004. Warmest wishes for a 2004 filled with peace, health, love, and joy! ~Warner and Jean~ Auld Lang Syne The World's National Anthem ...with explanation beneath... Should auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot And days o' lang syne? Chorus For auld lang syne, my Dear For auld lang syne We'll tak a cup o kindness yet For auld lang syne And surely ye'11 be your pint-stowp And surely I'll be mine And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne Chorus We two have run about the hillsides and pulled wild daisies but now we are far apart in distance >From those days now in the past Chorus For auld lang syne, my Dear For auld lang syne We'll tak a cup o kindness yet For auld lang syne We two have paddled in the stream from morning untill noon but oceans now lie between us since those days now in the past Chorus For auld lang syne, my Dear For auld lang syne We'll tak a cup o kindness yet For auld lang syne So take my hand, my trusty friend and give me your hand and we will take a hearty drink together In memory of those days now in the past Chorus For auld lang syne, my Dear For auld lang syne We'll tak a cup o kindness yet For auld lang syne The best known and most often sung of all songs, reminds us that Robert Burns is as much the poet of friendship as of love. This song is now generally sung at the end of a convivial evening and at New Year's Eve the world over. Of course Auld Lang Syne is more than a New Year's song. It is one of the great expressions of the tragic ambiguity of man's relation to time, which mixes memory with desire, carrying away old friendships and bringing new, turning childhood escapades into old men's recollections, making change the very condition of consciousness, and at the same time the creator and the destroyer of human experience. All this is done in the purest folk idiom, with no abstract statements or generalizations, except for the chorus itself, which states in simple but powerful terms the question that lies at the heart of so much human emotion. The sublimation of nostalgia for the past in present good fellowship brings the poem to a close (whichever version we take) with a formal social gesture, in the light of which everything falls into shape; past and present are held together for one tenuous moment by ritual, which is man's way of marking permanently the fleeting meanings of things. The lines: And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp And surely I'll be mine translate as: And you will buy your own pint tankard and I will buy my own, is a means of saying that since old friends can be separated by time and distance they can still buy each other a pint and remember their friendship. This can be further exemplified by saying that the greatest time and distance that you can be from your friends are when they are no longer on this earth and yet you can still buy your pint and raise a glass to them in remembrance. The ritual of holding hands is symbolic of shaking hands with everyone, and if this is done across the globe then you are in effect shaking hands with your friends everywhere. What better way to wish loved ones a very Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year! Tippin' a pint (of milk!) in your direction tonight... Be safe and ALL the best in 2004!!!