Christmas, Pandemic in the Holy Land
POETRY FORMAT, 28 Dec 2020
Samia Khoury – TRANSCEND Media Service
The Little Town of Bethlehem is not celebrating
It was the first to be hit by a virus so invading
Tourists carried it during a flourishing season
Causing a complete lockdown of all the region
Easter has gone and now it’s Christmas time
It’s getting worse and the virus is in its prime
The Christmas tree stands lonely in the square
No choirs or pilgrims, a scene so sad and rare
With the news of the vaccine, hope is rising
Holding onto hope for us is not surprising
Hope has been the secret of our surviving
Despite the occupation ever so brutalizing
As we face this monster of a pandemic altogether
The least we can do is to be kind to each other
May the spirit of Christmas continue to prevail
And may justice, peace and liberation tip the scale
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Dr. Samia Khoury is currently the Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at the American University of Beirut. Since October 2011, she has served as the Director of the Abu Haidar Neuroscience Institute, Director of Nehme and Therese Tohme Multiple Sclerosis Center at AUBMC, the first MS (Multiple Sclerosis) center in the region, and Director of the research lab specialized in MS and immunology. She is a professor of neurology at the American University of Beirut. From 2009-2013 she was the Jack, Sadie, and David Breakstone professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and served as the co-Director of the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center, Boston since 2001. In 2007, Dr. Khoury was awarded the prestigious Kuwait Prize for Sciences by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences for her work in immunology. In 2017, she received the CNRS Research Excellence award.
Tags: Bethlehem, COVID-19, Christmas, Coronavirus, Holy Land, Pandemic, Poetry
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 28 Dec 2020.
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