The
Robert Burns English Weekend
January 2010
The days of „Auld Lang
Syne“, my dear,
are far away, but we are here,
in Hedersleben, Sankt Gertrudis,
(They said it’s cold here – and what true is!)
But at this lovely holy place
we honoured Robert Burns with grace
and pomp and listening to his poetry
as every year in January.
We’ve learnt about the
Scottish kind,
had to keep a lot of words in mind
like caber tossing, hammer throwing,
like ploughing, harvesting and growing.
We learnt Scottish history,
religion, culture, geography,
and finally we got it right
and could enjoy the “whisky Night”,
with the whole supper
ceremony,
with speeches songs and poetry,
with whisky which is “th’ water of life”,
and perfect haggis – we did survive!
And so I think that we should send
the kitchen staff a compliment.
And there has too some
dancing been
where one of us was all too keen … .
The Loch Lomond song which you could hear,
has brought some new words into our ear.
The piper, too, was really great
and made our ear drums just vibrate.
“He screwed the pipes and gart them skirl
till roof and rafters all did dirl.” (Robert Burns)
So now it’s Sunday,
near high noon –
we have too leave this place too soon.
But we will meet again in June.
Oh, god, I just forgot to tell,
the next
Weekend
is in April.
Bernd Neumann
