Monday 3 July 2017

A Snapshot of Paris

Paris – in the pouring rain
Slippery cobbles near the Seine
Tourists swarm in narrow streets
The Jewish quarter never sleeps.

Bistrots and bakeries abound
Their arts and crafts scene world renowned
Umbrellas clash, turn inside out
A raincoat must be bought – no doubt.

The Sorbonne lies just up the street
Think Cinquième - Mai Soixante-Huit
Ile-Saint-Louis – built-up maze
Whose houses have seen better days...

Quaint boutiques down small impasses
Florists and antiques en masse
Avant-garde and tourist tat
Traditional, modern – all of that!

Ile de la Cité – Nôtre-Dame
Quintessential photo in the can!
Gothic splendour; Roman baths
Nothing here is done by halves.

Pavement cafés, chinking glasses
Apéritif-time – men make passes!
Medieval art on Cluny site
Dame and Unicorn delight!

Parisians love good food and dine
Buoyed up with knowledge of fine wine.
Their legendary 'savoir-faire'
Like champagne, bubbles everywhere.

A Sunday stroll round Père Lachaise
69 thousand stone des. res.
Amid long avenues of trees
Rich, poor and famous take their ease.

In death united on a slope
What price religion, what price hope?
Sharp contrast to the Left Bank crowds
Both hidden under rainy clouds ...

(c) Poet in the woods 2017



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