Editor-In-Chief Georges Mghames English Editor Kenneth Mortimer
ndu Issue 54 March 2012 March 2012 How beautiful is the snow! How Hail the snow, covering the mountains, draping the generous is the snow! A true blessing slopes, concealing rooftops, and clothing snow-laden from the heavens above! And trees with its immaculate coat. countless are the blessings that fall Hail this majestic beauty, swirling down in the fog and upon us from the sky! However, we in the moonlight; and when dawn breaks, snowflakes ignore, shun, and abandon them! become like flocks of white doves. Hasn’t God bestowed a great blessing Hail the snow, laying down a soft and yielding carpet and upon Lebanon? Isn’t this country a bringing back childhood memories. Hail the icy crystals real boon sent to us, and only us, by that lie like a beautiful woman. heaven? Still, we scorn its natural Hail the snow in all its states and shapes. When it melts, wonders, heritage, and future. it filters into the earth and rocks, and streams become And if we cast blame on the “others”, rivers. a verse written by Abul Tayyeb al- Hail the snow, a pleasure for the eyes to behold and a Mutanabi, the renowned Arab poet, delight for the spirit. Snow triggers our imagination to warns us: picture fields in bloom and spring in feast. Snow preludes “Whenever a branch grows, Man caressing breezes into softer tomorrows. transforms it into a spear shaft and Hail the snow, nostalgia of innocence, purity, and affixes it with a spearhead.” clarity… of conscience, goodwill, and good repute… and We are this “Man”, what a disgrace! generosity.
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