The door closed behind me and I felt a sharp breeze against my exposed chest. I walked down the four stairs onto the sidewalk. There was snow floating, a subway train screeching and a full moon fighting its way through the late December clouds. I walked towards my car, decided to walk and pulled up the collar to my coat and cleared my throat.
The new year is coming up, 1997, another year and another Auld Lang Syne sing along across the globe. I think about my old loves, my old friends and the lost home…
I pass a well lit home and I see the family gathered in the front, TV flashing and the sounds of laughter.
I think about the original poem to which the New Years anthem is derived from…
Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
On old long syne.
I stand in front of my old home and I think about my two boys sitting on my lap watching TV or me reading a story…
I think about my lost memories and the lost loves I could never truly grasp…
I think about the “one friend” you should be able to count on and I wonder where he or she is…
I come upon a frozen brook and I see my reflection glowing by the light of the moon…I know that in order to find my companion I must first become acquainted with myself.
As I walk across the brook now, I realize that I am never truly alone. I know this feeling is fleeting and I will be shaking and cold before the night is done…but until then…
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.
Freddy Zalta 