Tenderness and compassion from the Left Bank on the Square René Viviani, Paris. The sculpture, by the late, great George Jeanclos (1933-1997), is flanked by the Cathédrale Notre Dame on one side and Église Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre and its 400 year-old acacia, on the other. The work is actually a fountain, but from at least as far back as June 1996, water, like tears, no longer flows from it.
Cited as the oldest living tree in Paris, the Robinier acacia was planted near the small church in the 17th century by the royal botanist, Jean Robin, from seeds said to have been introduced to France from the North American Appalachians. The Robinier, or false acacia, is braced by concrete supports.
Vocabulary
la compassion: mercy
la miséricorde: God's mercy
©2014 P.B. Lecron
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