Dorothy Lawrenson: The ‘different tune’ that prompted this poem is not a new tune – in fact it’s the original tune that Robert Burns was familiar with. The tune we tend to use today – the one that is sung around the world at Hogmanay – is an alternative tune, and not the one that Burns had in mind. The original tune has made a bit of a comeback since being featured in the film Sex and the City. You can hear it here.
Carlos Llaza: Being a close friend of Robert Burns, I cherish this poem as a personal favourite. Although my rendering, once again, fails to reproduce the physicality of Scots, it does attempt to convey the surprise and embrace of Dorothy’s poem: the speaker leading Burns’s beloved song to the dancefloor.
Scroll down to see a video of poet and translator reading this poem, with English subtitles.
On Hearin Auld Lang Syne tae a Different Tune
bi Dorothy Lawrenson
Auld freen, yer new claes
are braw – fur a meenit but,
Aam stammagastert. Syne
the unco casts the kent
in a new licht. Forby,
ye’re dumfoonert an aw
at hoo Aa’ve chynged. Aa mind
the turn o phrase the auld yins
would yaise at pairtin:
Aa’ll see ye when ye’re better
dressed. This new rig-oot –
Aa could get yaised tae it.
So here’s a hand my trusty fiere –
crossed hauns bring us aye nearer.
An when we turn oot,
Aa cannae see ye, but it’s fine
Aa ken the feelin o yer haun in mine.
Escuchando Auld Lang Syne con Otra Melodía
traducido al español por Carlos Llaza
Vieja amiga, la ropa nueva
te queda bien – aunque por un minuto
me sorprendo. Entonces
lo desconocido proyecta lo conocido
bajo una nueva luz. Además,
tú también estás atónita
ante cómo he cambiado. Recuerdo
la frase que hombres mayores
solían decir al despedirse:
Nos vemos cuando estés mejor
vestida. Este nuevo atuendo –
me podría acostumbrar.
He aquí mi mano, confiada amiga –
las manos cruzadas nos acercan más que nunca.
Y tras girar,
no puedo verte, pero no importa.
Sé cómo se siente tu mano en la mía.
On Hearing Auld Lang Syne to a Different Tune
translated into English by Dorothy Lawrenson
Old friend, your new clothes
are fine – for a minute though,
I’m astonished. Then
the unknown casts the known
in a new light. Besides,
you’re dumbfounded too
at how I’ve changed. I remember
the turn of phrase the old men
would use at parting:
I’ll see you when you’re better
dressed. This new outfit –
I could get used to it.
So here’s a hand my trusty fiere –
crossed hands bring us ever nearer.
And when we turn out,
I can’t see you, but it’s fine
I know the feeling of your hand in mine.
‘Vieja amiga’ – and ‘tu mano en la mia’: as moving and nostalgic in Spanish: but the Scots of ‘Auld freen’ and ‘yer haun in mine’ has the familiarity of countless such occasions for me! Still this poem ‘casts the kent/in a new licht’ – ‘una nueva luz’. Perhaps that is one of the chief functions of poetry; and this whole enterprise has certainly done that for me. Thank you, Dorothy and Carlos!