Ruth Bader Ginsberg at the Musee d’Orsay

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By Mark Ellis

Interior of Musee d'Orsay in Paris
Interior of Musee d’Orsay in Paris

 

stylishly tailored

in knit suit

ala Coco Chanel she strolled

slightly stooped

the diminutive giant of the left

bank

hair pulled back

tightly

mouthing the slightest

grimacing smile

now moving slowly with escort and private guide

past aging splendors

of impressionism

and French culture

sitting to behold

Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe

a scandal in its time

yet now tame

with respect

to pornified American culture

safely ensconced

in court rulings and lack of executive fervor

le champion

of women’s reproductive rights

first among her peers at Harvard and Columbia

finding

the European

way

forward

in dark symphonic Wagnerian harmonies

to unite men’s darkened souls