A Fleeting Moment

On Saturday at around 3pm I took this photo of a place and scene that will soon not exist.

I don’t know how long this view will last, or how long it has lasted. It captures a moment of the present, sometime between the past that was and the future that will be. Buildings that have stood for more than a century, and a building that has yet to be built.

Soon, that building will overshadow this scene, and the past will be lost. And no sun will penetrate this forgotten alleyway. But for just a moment, in the pre-Christmas sunshine, this place glowed in the warmth and glory of the present.

I could tell you a history of this place, about when each building was built and why, the story of those who lived and worked here, or I could tell you when the new building will be completed. But that's not its story. That doesn’t speak of that moment. That moment I walked through the brick lined thoroughfare and was captured, in an exceptionally rare moment for me, in the present. Usually I feel myself living in the past, imprisoned by what was and what could have been. Caged by thoughts of the impossible.

But in that place I felt, for once, in the present. A place in time that has never been before and will never be again.

A fleeting moment of peace that too often we all miss.