soft as a morning sunbeam

Once a year for a few days around the summer solstice our great star sits high enough above 23rd Street for its rays to penetrate four stories (plus a few more feet) down through the fire escape to the bricks of the rear wall on the north wing of our second-floor apartment.

Unfortunately the plants out of sight in this image in an open area of our roof terrace a few feet to the right never feel the kiss. They only have the indirect natural light which bounces off the buildings immediately to the north, and in too many cases that's just not enough.

I feel it every time.