C’est La Vie

t school, every French girl learns Pierre de Ronsard’s poem that begins, ‘See, Mignonne, hath not the Rose.’ It’s the story of a poet in love with a young woman who doesn’t return his affections. Despondent and bitter, he suggests that the girl come look at the roses in his garden. They take a stroll among the flowers, each more beautiful than the next. But, at the end, the poet shows the young girl that the