***HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE GANG AT PADDYS. MAY IT BE YOUR BEST ONE YET!!*** *May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. ... May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.* ------------ Robert Burns first wrote down “Auld Lang Syne” in 1788, but the poem did not appear in print until shortly after his death in 1796. The title, translated literally into standard English, is Old Long Since. The words can be interpreted as "since long ago" or "for old times’ sake". The lyrics are about old friends having a drink and recalling adventures they had long ago. Poems with similar words existed before the time of Burns. Sir Robert Ayton, who died in 1638, wrote Old Long Syne, a poem that was first published in 1711 and is sometimes cited as Burns’s inspiration. The Scottish poet Allan Ramsay published a poem in 1720 that begins with the line “Should auld acquaintance be forgot” but is otherwise dissimilar to the Burns poem. English Version Should old acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, And old lang syne? (Chorus) For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We’ll take a cup of kindness yet, For auld lang syne. And surely you’ll buy your pint cup! And surely I’ll buy mine! And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne. We two have run about the slopes, And picked the daisies fine; But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, Since auld lang syne. We two have paddled in the stream, From morning sun till dine; But seas between us broad have roared Since auld lang syne. And there’s a hand my trusty friend! And give me a hand o’ thine! And we’ll take a right good-will draught, For auld lang syne.