Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Illustrated book of Scottish songs from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century

22 SONGS OP THE AITECTIONS.
OLD LONG SYNE.
The following song is interesting as the earliest known verses to the air of " Auld
lang syne." They appeared in Watson's collection of Scots Poems, 1716. They
are certainly not equal to the verses preserved by Burns, which appear among the
Convivial Songs in this volume.
PART FIRST.
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And never thought upon,
The flames of love extinguish 'd.
And freely past and gone ?
Is thy kind heart now grown so cold
In that loving breast of thine,
That thou canst never once reflect
On old long syne ?
Where are thy protestations,
Thy vows and oaths, my dear,
Thou mad'st to me and I to thee
In register yet clear ?
Is faith and truth so violate
To th' immortal gods divine.
That thou canst never once reflect
On old long syne ?
Is't Cupid's fears, or frosty cares,
That makes thy spirits decay ?
Or is't some object of more worth
That's stolen thy heart away ?
Or some desert makes thee neglect
Him so much once was thine,
That thou canst never once reflect
On old long syne ?
Is't worldly cares so desperate
That makes thee to despair ?
Is't that makes thee exasperate,
And makes thee to forbear ?
If thou of that were free as I,
Thou surely should be mine ;
If this were true, we should renew
Kind old long syne.