For Auld Langs Syne's Sake

Joyful singing becomes raucous;
'Auld Lang Syne'
What does that really mean?
Do you ever stop to think
When you are celebrating New Year
Through drunken eyes?
It means: 'Old long since.'
Still confused? So am I. Never mind.
This isn't the time for serious thought.
Drink up, drown your sorrows -
But be careful who drives you home.

I hate tonight; I'm a boring party-pooper
Who’d rather turn in at ten.
If I stay up, I feel I'm lost in Limbo,
Torn between two years,
Not wanting to let go of the past
But unwilling to embrace the future.

In Plymouth on New Year's Eve
The dockyard siren wails at midnight;
The old wartime: 'All clear.'
Appropriate perhaps to wipe the slate clean
Make a new start, resolve to be better people,
Shed a few pounds, be nice to the neighbours,
Don't kick the dog, save for a foreign holiday.
But January being the dull month it is,
Willpower is soon spent and forgotten.

The search-lights from the docks stretch into the night;
Golden fingers pointing to an uncertain future
We cheer, heralding the arrival of another year;
Big Ben chimes and humanity sings with one heart.