She rose above the floating mists,
like a giant lapwing on stilt legs.
She stretched between cliffs
like the trunk of a massive oak.
The Tarn River flowed beneath,
Its gurgling waters circled her pillars,
marveling at her delicate strength.
Though of concrete and steel,
She looked as if she belonged.
On her gleaming railings,
The cormorants rested their tired wings,
While the condors paused in mid-air,
awed by her waif-like splendour.
She is Man’s homage to Nature,
His apology rendered in style
for intruding into its mystic vales.
Author notes
The President of France, Monsieur Chirac, inaugurated the world’s tallest and longest bridge, couple of days back. The bridge is located in Southern France and is in news for its aesthetics.
The British Architect, Sir Norman Foster, who designed it, had this to say: “ A work of man must fuse with Nature. The bridge could not look as if it had been tacked onto the scenery. It had to rise out of the landscape with the delicacy of a butterfly”. The bridge has been praised as a classic marriage of aesthetics and Science, appearing to float on the fog like a mysterious sailing ship or an ethereal butterfly.
Written December 14th, 2004
What did you think
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Nice nd Informative.
~shaitus -
WONDERFUL
Lovely,lovely piece,you write from the soul,keep it up. -
a must read
I have never seen that bridge, and perhaps never will, but I want to thank you for your description and comments. If only all the architects and deveolopers would see life as it used to be, and not how they want it to be, huh? Here in the US, we just pour miles and miles of concrete. How beautiful is that? I'll trade you 100 miles of concrete for just one tree....thank you for your timely write, it is much appreciated by me, and by others as well, I am sure.
Brazos
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It’s a nice tribute to The Millau Viaduct bridge... I didn’t realized till I heard in the news that it's taller than the Eiffel Tower... I totally agree with Sir Norman Foster's views that "A work of man must fuse with Nature"... all our large cities are filled with concrete blocks... this reminds me of my visit to Toronto, my cousin drove me around to show the city... I noticed a beautifully architectured gothic church building camouflaged with tall concrete block around it... and while viewing city from the top of CN tower, it was hard to spot a tree... and this applies to all the big cities in the world...
as for the poem… its beautifully worded as always… I enjoy your work very much… keep on writing...
mina
Edited on Dec 15, 6:07 p.m. because 'sp'. -
my greatest gripe against what man creations are the way they hurt the eyes and destroy the beauty around them. I applaud any one who has the sense good taste and foresight to design something that melds into its surroundings and adds to their beauty. It cannot be so hard to do after all there are many structures in the world that increase the beauty of their surroundings yet more and more grey monstrosities come up each day symbols of mans short sighted greed.
Beautifully written tribute to a creation whose basic idealogy I hope will be emulated by many.
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