What is the Jardin du Luxembourg like on a Sunday? Like a Buddhist monk and
Thelonius Monk started improvising in a garden from a water-colored La Belle et La Bête. And then a light rain starts to fall. And children in yellow
rain slickers are laughing under trees that are, in turns, too green, or too
golden. And old couples open black umbrellas as they sit on loden benches listening
to a woman singing Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. And fathers carry children on
their shoulders and small sailboats in their hands. And the running of young
boys playing soccer between rows of square-cut trees sounds like distance
horses or soft thunder. And there’s always strong coffee served with sugar
cubes. Like this. Only better.
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| Still from Jean Cocteau's 1946 version of La Belle et La Bete. |
