2017
A new day
from whence
we overcame.
What if
anything
will ever change?
Absolutely
nothing!
In fact
life will resume
just the same.
We’ll lie
we’ll cry
we’ll cheat
even
make a
New Year’s resolution
sheet;
tuck it away,
an’ sing
some of the very
same ol’ same
in 1918.
What a shame
a new year.
Auld Lang Syne
wasted
time gone by
a different day
without
a shadow of a
doubt
the same ol’
same ol’
game.
Dedicated to: Anew un-Happy New Year!
A B.A.D. poem
Rooster -- Roz Young
This is the year of the rooster according to the traditional Chinse zodiac. (Actually, it is actually any barnyard fowl of either sex; in Tibetan astrology it is simply the bird.) Unlike Western zodiacs, which are based on 12 monthly signs, the Chinese zodiac uses 12 annual signs. The cycle also has a 4-year cycle of different heavnly branch roosters bsed on the 4-element system. The Chinese system approximates the 11.86-year cycle of Jupiter rather than the Westrn solar calendar, so the following dates are only approximate: the current series of Rooster years would be 1981 (Metal Rooster), 1993 (Water Rooster), 2005 (Wood Rooster), 2017 (Fire Rooster). In addition to the annual and 4-year cycles, Chinese astrology has additional animal signs assigned by month (inner animals), by day (true animals) and hours (secret animals). Interpretive systems vary according to schools, but one of the leading schools is Xue Yuan Pai (the Scholarly School), which Xu Zi Ping established in the 10th century.
ReplyDelete"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem partly written and partly collected by Robert Burns in 1788, set to a traditional folk song, probably originally a sprightly dance tun in a much quicker tempo than the pentatonic Scots folk melody used today. In English it means "old long since" or "long ago." Singing it on Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) quickly became a Scots custom that soon spread to other parts of the British Isles, but it is also sung at various limnal occasions such as funerals, graduations, and other endings or farewells. Usually, the first first and chorus are the only parts used (probably the only part that Burns did not write).
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
[chorus]
For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely ye'll be your pint-stoup!
and surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak' a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
[chorus]
We twa hae run about the braes,
and pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
sin' auld lang syne.
[chorus]
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
sin' auld lang syne.
[chorus]
And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
and gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak' a right gude-willie waught,
for auld lang syne.
[chorus]
In 1799 "Thomson's Select Songs of Scotland" moved the second verse about greeting and toasting to the end.