Saturday, May 26, 2012

yearning to breathe free






What does the grand green gulled lady with the oh-so-fine patina famously proclaim?

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, your herring gulls, your black-backed gulls and, yes, your Bonaparte's too (after all, she is French) all yearning to breathe free"

The great copper statue dedicated to liberty (
La Liberté éclairant le monde, or Liberty Enlightening the Worldgreets all to America since 1886, and as my friend Wayne discovered on a recent visit to the "City that never sleeps," sometimes she has a gull helping her welcome the huddled masses.

The female figure, cloaked in green robes, represents Libertas the Roman goddess of freedom.

What a view! What a country. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, oh my! 



To that end: Happy Memorial Day weekend.

Thanks, Wayne.

- Photos by Wayne Mallinger.







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