PLACE DES VOSGES

a shot from a helicopter

would be best

it’s impossible to get one

that does justice

to the vast place des Vosges


the foreground

is cluttered with cars

studios, shops

waiters in white aprons

picnickers in the park

children scrunching

on the gravel

people taking

a quick shortcut

while in the

ancient arcades

a soprano sings arias

a quartet plays Bach

so fitting for this

evocative

French, formal

aristocratic square


unlike most Paris squares

it is a square

nine pink brick mansions

define each side

their slate roofs

encircling it

like a silver coronet

the park outlined

by avenues of linden trees

trimmed as if

a giant hand

had sliced them smooth

and in the center

proud and high above

Louis X111 surveys the scene


and so

I never got a shot

but I shall always remember

that it reminded me

of mansions

of many mansions

of one with a

place prepared by you

in your mercy

Lord

for me