Okay, today proved exactly why I wanted to undertake this little enterprise. Late January, around 3:30 p.m.--frankly, I wasn't expecting much from my brief walk except a touch of windburn. Ha! Everywhere I turned, I stumbled upon mysterious and sacred sites and rituals--on a Monday!
We'll start with this cairn of rocks just inside a break in the perimeter fence. I've seen these on a formidable hiking trail in Maine (no idea what purpose they serve, perhaps veteran hikers can decode them in some way), and I have no idea what this one signifies in a wooded area a few yards from Parkside Avenue.
A bit further on, at the lake's edge, a circle of logs has been created. This is not the Drummers' Circle, which lies further east; does this Rock of Ages in the center suggest its use as holy ground?
My destination was the statue of Abraham Lincoln near the Concert Grove; it's a treasure dating to 1869 (where it was originally placed in Grand Army Plaza), and I always wondered how I'd missed it. Now I know: Thanks to Robert Moses' placement of the Wollman Rink, Abe now gazes somberly at the Zamboni, instead of the Music Island that preceded it. I can't top this description from The Complete Illustrated Guidebook to Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden:
"Lincoln now stares out over the chain-link fence surrounding the rink, looking for all the world as if he's consulting an original map of the site and wondering where the wonderful view has gone."
(In fact, he is holding the Emancipation Proclamation.) The bronze eagles at the monument's base are replacements when vandals stole the originals (ah, the 1970s!); they are much sleeker versions, I suspect.
Engrossed in Lincoln, I glanced up to a surreal vision: a bride and groom (dazzling if no doubt chilly) being photographed beside a tree.
Delighted, I proceeded a bit further into the Music Grove, where another couple, also Asian-American and glamorous, were engaging in the same ritual. This bride, in her demure pose in the woods, reminded me of Giselle. May her future be a happier one.
Image: Alina Cojocaru, The Royal Ballet
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