The faces at the table change
it’s the flow and ebb of time
we struggle to remember them
and the days of Auld Lang Syne .

The former faces shared our names
We are their blood and line
We gather now in different lands
in a very different time.

Grandfather James, renowned for brains,
played music and sang songs
Great Grandson James, the chemist,
researches to right Cancer’s wrongs.

There were Margarets and Catherines
in that different age and time
I struggle to remember them
different people, different times

Our Ed is a music teacher
who can read and write a score
Their Eddie died a pilot
in that war to end all wars.

My age lacks a Sophia
and I count it quite a loss.
She was a faithful bride of Christ
and wore a simple cross.

There was a Susan and an Agnes
back in the former age
Agnes nursed in wartime London
as above the air war raged.

The faces at the table change
the ranks are thinned with time
We struggle to remember them
and the days of Auld Lang Syne