Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Auld Lang Syne” by Bill Arnott, which first appeared in Poetry Pause in December 2020.

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Auld Lang Syne

By Bill Arnott

predawn, through frost
a blossom blooms
bluebills clump
in raptor eclipse
under stone-fruit sky
light, dark, auld lang syne
more hummingbirds and blossoms
as an oncologist tells Tom
three to six

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Copyright © Bill Arnott

First appeared in Poetry Pause in December 2020.

Previously published in MOON Magazine, 2019.

Bill Arnott is the bestselling author of the award-winning “Gone Viking” travelogues, “A Season on Vancouver Island,” and “A Perfect Day for a Walk” (Fall 2024). Recipient of a Fellowship at London’s Royal Geographical Society for his expeditions and past director on numerous boards, he’s also a frequent guest speaker and contributor to magazines, literary journals, universities, podcasts, TV and radio. When not trekking with a small pack and journal, armed with a laughably outdated camera phone, or showing off cooking skills as a culinary school dropout, Bill can be found on Canada’s west coast, where he lives near the sea on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh land.

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