"Earlier this month, shortly after 4 one afternoon, sunshine streamed into the concourse through an open-air clerestory above the scrims. Skyscrapers rose in the distance. In the foreground, bundled-up commuters crossed concrete floors etched with shadows.

The sun highlighted the red letters on one of the scrims, forming this quotation from Truman Capote: 'New York is a diamond iceberg floating in river water.'

Cold. Brilliant. Inextinguishable. At that moment, in that place, it was."