School of Languages and Literatures Festive Poem!

by Professor Rosario Gomez

‘Twas the week before Christmas in the tower of MacKinnon,  
Not a creature was stirring, not even Dean Brennan
For months no one came in, twas the worst of pandemics
2020 was a bad year, especially, for academics.

We pedagogues were nestled, all snug in our homes,
With visions of office shelves, with still unread tomes.
And all in our pjs, attended zoom meetings
Looking to stop, the students from quitting

When out on the screen, there arose such a clatter.
We sprang from our chair, to see what was the matter.
Away to the window, we scrolled like a flash,
Hoping our computers, would not again crash.

I knew in a moment, we were all in attendance
In the miniature screens, we’d made a great entrance
The Germans, the Italians, the French and the Spanish
The Linguists, the Latins, the Greeks, and the Irish

Now Margot, Now Mary, Now Stephen and John, 
Now Paula and Flora, Alena and Dawn
Frederique, Joubert, Clive and Andy
Stephanie, Angelina, boy, Zoom´s really handy!

Asen, Gordana, Denise and Rosario, 
Sandra and Ruediger, complete the scenario
To the final meeting, our attention was keen,
And then, in a twinkling, boom on the screen!

We got zoombombed by St. Nicholas himself 
He’d come here to spread, some cheer with his Elf
He spoke in a language not taught on our floor,
Full of velars, palatals, and glottals galore.

We sprang to our browser to translate his phrases 
with google, and Babble, and DeepL, and gazes!
They translated his words to a dialect we knew,
“Happy Christmas! He said, And Covid-free too!