Last night I swam in a pool in the middle of New York City. 

I walked down the stairs of a factory building in TriBeCa 

And stepped into a bright blue Roman bath for ninety minutes of bliss. 

Walking back to my house I stopped for a watermelon salad at an outdoor cafe 

With a big black clock and a pianist in front of a hotel that seemed stuck in time. 

On my way back through SoHo to the Village,

I saw West Broadway filled with lights and the happy noise of people eating and laughing

Then I looked around and -- just like that -- 

I saw the giant Freedom Tower sparkling behind me -- 

A beacon of hope of a city resurrected after 9/11 -- 

But, it wasn’t until I hit Houston Street

That I suddenly realized that the shop windows

That were smashed in the riots only two months ago

Had been replaced and that those boarded up storefronts were open for business again. 

That’s New York,

I thought to myself as I rounded the corner onto Washington Place,

An endless cycle of birth and destruction,

A city that burns and rises from the ashes

The city that I call home.

Rosalind Resnick 

Aug. 13, 2020