New York City, March 19, 2013

★★★ Dawn was the dim anticlimax of rain on snow: dark pavement, gray river, gray sky. Through the hours, the rain gradually stippled forth the green turf again, then stopped falling. The clouds brightened, and then a whole new day burst out, blue and brilliant. Sky and brick shone in the puddles in the shadowy depths under the scaffolding, with meltwater dripping through every opening, and where the wetness didn’t amount to puddles, blue and ocher tones shaded the concrete. March does not come in like this or go out like that; March is a wee lamb stumbling around on great crushing paws; March is a ferocious lion with tiny grazing jaws and a fleecy bobtail. Shoots of flower bulbs were poking up through the snow still in the planters. There were sneakers in the window of the Ugg store. Sun shot through the gap where the luxury tower has not gone up yet, flooding the wide unscaffolded sidewalk with light and almost warmth.