313 - To a beautiful woman, La Belle France

To a beautiful woman, La Belle France,
And to her noisy, sweet children, Bonjour!
Though we are years apart, you still entrance,
Singing, Que reste-t-ils de nos amours?
A Paris honeymoon, and old book stores
On the Rive Gauche, the bridges and the Seine,
The Notre Dame gargoyles who, without pause,
Frown down on centuries of loss and gain.
The old lady of Normandie, her rain,
The cliffs in all their stone-faced resistance,
Old Caen that is no more (shelled in the war),
Each little village, vast rural terrain,
Each old bell-tower, towers of La Dé fense:
Quatorze juillet, Bastille Day, alors!
Sat 14 July 2007