Thanks Jamie. Ain't tradition a funny thing! Smile. I first met this one at a Burns Night in London, England. There have been Scots in old London also lang syne. Oddly I was with a family from the Gaeltacht, another tradition again. England in those days, at least at the family level, celebrated Christmas, but not so much New Year, In Scotland it was the other way round; Christmas was commonly still part of the working week. I subsequently worked 27 years in Scotland. and came to know it better, wounds and all. And my children carry the maternal lineage of these traditions, though the words are mostly lost, Thanks for the words, and may kindness bring a fond good year, Canada and all.
PS I got to know Hanoverian Fredericton. NB, for a while, but that's another story.
Philip, I could sit and listen to you forever! I can’t wait to hear the New Brunswick story. I have an aunt who has lived just outside Fredericton on the Miramichi for 60 years. Thank you so much for reading and for being you. You always add so much wisdom to a story. Somehow you have lived into the experiences that I am only touching. Bless you a wonderful year ahead 🙏🏻❤️
I did not know you were a fellow Canadian, and London, Ontario no less. We are almost neighbours. Happy New Year and may each dawn and each poem that rises in you be a blessing.
Wow Muriel! Good things grow in Ontario! Nice to know a kindred spirit is leading the way so close to home! I’ll raise a glass to that! Bless you a wonderful 2024 on that journey to everything. 🙏❤️
Intriguing! I recently discovered that my great-grandmother (although she moved from Scotland to Germany) was born and raised in Ontario. Her father bought a piece of land called 'Cedar Glen' in a town called Brantford.
An hour away! Brantford! The home of the telephone via Alexander Graham Bell another Scot. The home of Wayne Gretzky too. No Scot there but Hockey has never been the same. Wow. Thanks for sharing!
I love what is written about the surging wave, feeling like you might drown. This is according to all intuitive accounts going to be a huge, massive year full of potential and it's going to be fucking intense out there. More faux and natural "excitement" are predicted, as well as an opportunity to really rise as one Hu, beyond the oppression in all forms from gov, esp. Last night I was thinking of the New Year and I felt...I don't want to be pummeled another year, as I've felt that last few. Then this memory came to me: 20 years ago my hubby and I were in Hawaii to get engaged officially and tell his family. We went to Little Beach. Finding a spot away from the sharp edges of the rocks, we started to ride the waves. It was my first time body surfing, at least that I could remember. I got the hang of it and was having fun. Then all of a sudden there was a really epically (to me) big wave. My husband – then fiance called out, “It’s too late.” I started running through the water as fast as I could with it up to my thighs. Soon the wave crashed into me, sending me hurtling in the water like an olympic gymnast with no landing plan and no knowledge of how her body was spinning, twisting and careening through watery space. It pummeled me so hard I wondered if I would survive. I knew better than to fight it. Water and sand were up my nose, and I was out of air by the time I was allowed to surface. I was fine. No worse for the wear, other than a bit shocked.
My husband – at that time fiance – had assumed I knew, as he did, that the natural inference of “It’s too late” is that you have to dive under the wave.
So my question for myself to be asked regularly this year is: Can I ride this wave, and if so, in what divinely guided way? Or do I need to dive under it, and if so, how deep. <3 <3 <3 Happy New Year!!! <3 <3 <3
Diving deep! Its too late. Am practicing to surrender to the rhythm of love. Thanks for reading and reaching out. All the best in the surging possibilities of this next fractal around the sun 🙏❤️Bless you Alicia.
Happy fractaling to you too! Blessings on the surrender the rhythm of love. May all life find a harmony of love and a rhythm of loving peaceful co-creation, bliss and joy!
Thanks Veronika! Those Scots spread their words and DNA all across the globe. Am 1/4 Scots myself lol! Have a wonderful new years! See you lots in 2024 🙏❤️ Bless you
Nova Scotia. New Scotland where the hills of Cape Breton still serenade the sea in old Gaelic. The famous ship The Hector is a story in itself. Connected indeed. You’ve got some Norse-Scots blood. We call that Resilience. Bless you.
Jamie, another beautiful and fitting poem. There are, for me, many family/personal mile markers crammed into this last month of the year and I always find myself more looking back than looking forward as the page turns. Thank you for the wonderful exploration of Auld Lang Syne, and may you be blessed in this New Year.
Thank you so much for telling the story behind the song! My dream is for everyone to sing this song at midnight on New Year's Eve, holding a candle, no fireworks, just everyone unified in song and peace. What a stunning poem, too! Thanks for making the life of a poet less lonely. 🙏
One candle! We only need one candle to light them all. Thank you for being that flame of soul in the world. Have a happy new year. Thanks for all of your support. Bless you! 🙏❤️
Besides New Year's Eve, Guy Lombardo had plenty of hit records in his prime the rest of the years he was active. His brother Carmen, a skilled musician and songwriter in his own right, wrote many of them in collaboration with John Jacob Loeb.
They were a great big band who really left their stamp on that era! 450 Million records sold! It puts a smile on my face to say they’re from my hometown. Thanks so much for reading and for responding David. Bless you a wonderful new year!
Yes, I hear you. My personal prayer is that I may keep connecting to my "I" and not let myself retreat along with the year.
The wave metaphor is a great one and I love the comments below on that also. It's funny because I was going to write yesterday a story about getting pummelled by the waves, but decided to save that for another time.
Happy New Year Jamie. Enjoying the wave here. Jo 🙏
Thank you so much Jo for all of your support and inspiration! Who am I is definitely a journey. I’m still learning to surf! Blessing you a wonderful year 🙏❤️
thanks, sir, for the song--I love auld syne...used to play it during my band years. and your poem is awesome--yeah, what a year...going to reflect a lot this year's end. no partying this time around. It seems that quiet is the way to go. bless you all in your continuing deep water-walking.
Happy New Year Jamie! I love your poems and I love your quest that ended in a pub...which is a cozy place sometimes for remembering and gratitude. And yes, as Alicia says, may we dive under those waves and stay as relaxed as we can.
Robert Burns is indeed a magnificent poet, and your post beautifully brings his work to life.
Your exploration of 'Auld Lang Syne' is particularly interesting, especially the New Year's Eve association and its connection to London, Ontario—your hometown. Your mention of the Guy Lombardo story and plaque adds depth linking the global tradition to a local musician. The poem you crafted, drawing inspiration from these elements is a creative narrative that explores the essence of being.
To add to this already engaging post, I suggest exploring Eddi Reader’s album 'Sings the Songs of Robert Burns.' It provides an additional dimension to the timeless works of Burns.
Wow, I’ll look for that one! I’ve got an old one here, Kenneth McAlpine, singing the songs of Robbie Burns. Thank you so much for reading, and for your kind words. Happy new year. 🙏❤️
Greetings Jamie, all blessings to you and yours this waxing New Year 2024. I appreciate you and your touching thoughts and moving poems, always heartwarming. Peace, Love and Music, Geraldine
Thanks Jamie. Ain't tradition a funny thing! Smile. I first met this one at a Burns Night in London, England. There have been Scots in old London also lang syne. Oddly I was with a family from the Gaeltacht, another tradition again. England in those days, at least at the family level, celebrated Christmas, but not so much New Year, In Scotland it was the other way round; Christmas was commonly still part of the working week. I subsequently worked 27 years in Scotland. and came to know it better, wounds and all. And my children carry the maternal lineage of these traditions, though the words are mostly lost, Thanks for the words, and may kindness bring a fond good year, Canada and all.
PS I got to know Hanoverian Fredericton. NB, for a while, but that's another story.
Philip, I could sit and listen to you forever! I can’t wait to hear the New Brunswick story. I have an aunt who has lived just outside Fredericton on the Miramichi for 60 years. Thank you so much for reading and for being you. You always add so much wisdom to a story. Somehow you have lived into the experiences that I am only touching. Bless you a wonderful year ahead 🙏🏻❤️
I did not know you were a fellow Canadian, and London, Ontario no less. We are almost neighbours. Happy New Year and may each dawn and each poem that rises in you be a blessing.
Wow Muriel! Good things grow in Ontario! Nice to know a kindred spirit is leading the way so close to home! I’ll raise a glass to that! Bless you a wonderful 2024 on that journey to everything. 🙏❤️
Intriguing! I recently discovered that my great-grandmother (although she moved from Scotland to Germany) was born and raised in Ontario. Her father bought a piece of land called 'Cedar Glen' in a town called Brantford.
An hour away! Brantford! The home of the telephone via Alexander Graham Bell another Scot. The home of Wayne Gretzky too. No Scot there but Hockey has never been the same. Wow. Thanks for sharing!
I love what is written about the surging wave, feeling like you might drown. This is according to all intuitive accounts going to be a huge, massive year full of potential and it's going to be fucking intense out there. More faux and natural "excitement" are predicted, as well as an opportunity to really rise as one Hu, beyond the oppression in all forms from gov, esp. Last night I was thinking of the New Year and I felt...I don't want to be pummeled another year, as I've felt that last few. Then this memory came to me: 20 years ago my hubby and I were in Hawaii to get engaged officially and tell his family. We went to Little Beach. Finding a spot away from the sharp edges of the rocks, we started to ride the waves. It was my first time body surfing, at least that I could remember. I got the hang of it and was having fun. Then all of a sudden there was a really epically (to me) big wave. My husband – then fiance called out, “It’s too late.” I started running through the water as fast as I could with it up to my thighs. Soon the wave crashed into me, sending me hurtling in the water like an olympic gymnast with no landing plan and no knowledge of how her body was spinning, twisting and careening through watery space. It pummeled me so hard I wondered if I would survive. I knew better than to fight it. Water and sand were up my nose, and I was out of air by the time I was allowed to surface. I was fine. No worse for the wear, other than a bit shocked.
My husband – at that time fiance – had assumed I knew, as he did, that the natural inference of “It’s too late” is that you have to dive under the wave.
So my question for myself to be asked regularly this year is: Can I ride this wave, and if so, in what divinely guided way? Or do I need to dive under it, and if so, how deep. <3 <3 <3 Happy New Year!!! <3 <3 <3
Living the questions ❤️
Diving deep! Its too late. Am practicing to surrender to the rhythm of love. Thanks for reading and reaching out. All the best in the surging possibilities of this next fractal around the sun 🙏❤️Bless you Alicia.
Happy fractaling to you too! Blessings on the surrender the rhythm of love. May all life find a harmony of love and a rhythm of loving peaceful co-creation, bliss and joy!
Amen 🙏
You published your piece at at 3:44; I published my piece at 6:44
Lol! :)
Wow, what an interesting story! 💖🙏
I'll be raising a glass to Robert Burns and my Scottish Greatgrandmother this New Year's eve.
With all best wishes for a Happy New (Writing) Year 🥂 🎉
Thanks Veronika! Those Scots spread their words and DNA all across the globe. Am 1/4 Scots myself lol! Have a wonderful new years! See you lots in 2024 🙏❤️ Bless you
Yes, my Scottish ancestors sailed to Nova Scotia prior to settling in New Zealand.
We are all connected....😊
Nova Scotia. New Scotland where the hills of Cape Breton still serenade the sea in old Gaelic. The famous ship The Hector is a story in itself. Connected indeed. You’ve got some Norse-Scots blood. We call that Resilience. Bless you.
😊 "Resilience" - yes that's one word for it. I'll take that thank you very much, and add it to my pot of strength boosting reminders. 😃🙏
Jamie, another beautiful and fitting poem. There are, for me, many family/personal mile markers crammed into this last month of the year and I always find myself more looking back than looking forward as the page turns. Thank you for the wonderful exploration of Auld Lang Syne, and may you be blessed in this New Year.
Bless you Jenn! Raising a glass to 2024! All the best to you and yours 🙏❤️ Thank you for your continued support here.
Cheers and a cup of kindness raised to you and 2024!
Thank you so much for telling the story behind the song! My dream is for everyone to sing this song at midnight on New Year's Eve, holding a candle, no fireworks, just everyone unified in song and peace. What a stunning poem, too! Thanks for making the life of a poet less lonely. 🙏
One candle! We only need one candle to light them all. Thank you for being that flame of soul in the world. Have a happy new year. Thanks for all of your support. Bless you! 🙏❤️
Besides New Year's Eve, Guy Lombardo had plenty of hit records in his prime the rest of the years he was active. His brother Carmen, a skilled musician and songwriter in his own right, wrote many of them in collaboration with John Jacob Loeb.
They were a great big band who really left their stamp on that era! 450 Million records sold! It puts a smile on my face to say they’re from my hometown. Thanks so much for reading and for responding David. Bless you a wonderful new year!
"Who am I?
In the retreating year
I knew I was here
I tasted myself inside the coffee
still warm on my tongue"
Yes, I hear you. My personal prayer is that I may keep connecting to my "I" and not let myself retreat along with the year.
The wave metaphor is a great one and I love the comments below on that also. It's funny because I was going to write yesterday a story about getting pummelled by the waves, but decided to save that for another time.
Happy New Year Jamie. Enjoying the wave here. Jo 🙏
Thank you so much Jo for all of your support and inspiration! Who am I is definitely a journey. I’m still learning to surf! Blessing you a wonderful year 🙏❤️
thanks, sir, for the song--I love auld syne...used to play it during my band years. and your poem is awesome--yeah, what a year...going to reflect a lot this year's end. no partying this time around. It seems that quiet is the way to go. bless you all in your continuing deep water-walking.
Bless you Jeanne. Sending love and light. Peace and quiet. Big hugs. 🙏❤️
Happy New Year Jamie! I love your poems and I love your quest that ended in a pub...which is a cozy place sometimes for remembering and gratitude. And yes, as Alicia says, may we dive under those waves and stay as relaxed as we can.
Robert Burns is indeed a magnificent poet, and your post beautifully brings his work to life.
Your exploration of 'Auld Lang Syne' is particularly interesting, especially the New Year's Eve association and its connection to London, Ontario—your hometown. Your mention of the Guy Lombardo story and plaque adds depth linking the global tradition to a local musician. The poem you crafted, drawing inspiration from these elements is a creative narrative that explores the essence of being.
To add to this already engaging post, I suggest exploring Eddi Reader’s album 'Sings the Songs of Robert Burns.' It provides an additional dimension to the timeless works of Burns.
Wow, I’ll look for that one! I’ve got an old one here, Kenneth McAlpine, singing the songs of Robbie Burns. Thank you so much for reading, and for your kind words. Happy new year. 🙏❤️
Greetings Jamie, all blessings to you and yours this waxing New Year 2024. I appreciate you and your touching thoughts and moving poems, always heartwarming. Peace, Love and Music, Geraldine
Thanks Geraldine! Bless you on this next trip around the sun ☀️ 🙏❤️
I'm 25% Scottish so I enjoyed reading your link to the Scottish language version side-by-side with the English version of Auld Lang Syne.
In your poem I like the lines:
"Time is a forsaken ghost
that comes back to collect the toll" ...
which gave me a helpful angle on trying to place the role of time in my own life as I get older.
All the best for 2024, Josh.
Thanks Joshua! Scots are bone deep poets. Thank you so much for reading. I am trying to link my role to soul as I gracefully age.