It Was Built for Her

Martin Place, Sydney

Martin Place does not slow down for anyone.The lights stay on whether or not you are watching.

The glass reflects whoever happens to be passing.

The city runs its schedule the same way it always has,indifferent to the particular lives moving through it.

Until she steps in.It is not a dramatic shift.

Nothing stops.No one stares.

But something in the air changes.

A small rearrangement of attention,the way a room adjusts when someone walks in who knows exactly who they are.

She moves through it like she has already been here and is simply returning.Deliberate steps.

Fabric catching the light.Glass picking her up in its reflections and carrying her forward before she has even passed.

The city has always been built for ambition.Built for speed.

Built for people who want to be seen.

But there is a difference between wanting to be seen and simply being impossible to ignore.

She does not reach for anything.She does not perform.

She just moves.Golden hour breaks across the towers.

The light rearranges itself for no particular reason.She is in the middle of it, neither hurrying nor pausing.

Present in the way that costs something to sustain.She stops.

Turns.Looks back at the city looking at her.

This light