0007 — Four Lamps in the Evening Fog

There is a statue of a horse that sits in the center of a well-traveled square in New Orleans, a block from the Mississippi River and in the shadow of a historic church.

This sculpture is the second in a series of monuments depicting a lifelike, rearing horse, beautifully balanced on its hind legs. That extraordinary balance, without the aid of any support, was novel enough in 1856 to draw thousands to the statue's unveiling.

Outside that square, on a warm, damp winter night, the four large, glass lamps perched above the park's main gate illuminate the water droplets that linger in the air and the glow reflects off the wet street. Lamps lit once with oil, then later gas, and now with electric. Progress. Slow.