Friends one and all! Let us unmute,
Excite the timbrel and the lute,
Make merry with our pots and pan
(The hour is seven, so we can),
Shout from the balcony or lawn
For joy at what will soon be gone,
And praises sing for what is here:
The end to this undreamt-of year!
Commune with us, dear friends, while we
Strew gifts abundant ’round the tree,
And help us pick out something nice
For New York’s Dr. David Price,
The Bronx’s Dr. Ernest Patti,
Every nurse in Cincinnati,
Dr. L. Woodward, of U. Miss.,
Dr. Pernell (she’s our own Chris),
L.A.’s Dr. Anna Darby,
Arizona’s Dr. Barbee,
Harold Varmus, the Nobel-er
(Doc of reputation stellar),
Ashley Bartholomew, R.N.
And when we check the list again
It unscrolls out across the floor,
With health-care stalwarts by the score—
By the millions! Heroes true!
(Forgive their student-loan debts—do!)
As we replay two-oh in slo-mo,
A Christmas cheer for Andrew Cuomo
Is not amiss, nor would it be
For bat virologist Zheng-Li Shi,
Steak Diane, the cool mask-maker,
Dolly Parton, Peter Baker,
Jennifer O’Malley Dillon,
Issa Rae, Calvin (Bud) Trillin,
Stacey Abrams, Mikie Sherrill,
Andrew Rea, and Colin Farrell.
The passing Comet Neowise,
Which, lacking hands, can’t sanitize
Them, yearns to be the wise men’s star
Instead, and shining from afar
Lays tender beams upon A. Blinken,
Dr. Fauci, and, we’re thinkin’,
Too, on David Miliband,
A’Lelia Bundles, Michael Land,
Gretchen Whitmer, fearless gov,
Jon Ossoff, whom we’re so fond of,
Chris Krebs, and Tyler, the Creator;
Brightly and not one bit later,
It shines on Amy Westervelt,
Whose podcast, we have always felt,
Is great; on Alice Oswald, too;
And, similarly, on a few
Deserving folks like James McBride,
Fern Finkel (Brooklyn’s courtroom pride),
Reid Singer, Mr. Brokaw (Tom),
Meg Knox, and wondrous Rosa Baum.
“Yay!” for Jack and Marta Handey,
And our ol’ pal Peter Canby!
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