They are tattooed black with the belching smoke and smut from ten thousand stacks and scarred from the passage of clog and hobnail.
Layed by cunning artisan hands at the height of the Victorian empire of mill and toil, these stones appear lifeless and utterly urban.
Yet in truth, they shimmer with life and beauty.
Between the cracks the irrepressible latency of life manifests as a bryophytic carpet.
This moss knows not of town or country, it merely feels the touch of sunlight against its being and the solidity of rock, mineral and water beneath it.
Fed by the microscopic remains of trodden and decaying leaf, it creates an ecosystem of linear canyons and native rock.
Nature’s bounty is endlessly giving, softening the edges of our urban existence and enlivening all that it touches.
It is here with us in intimate connection with every aspect of our lives.
Looking around one sees the shimmering vivacity of Gaia in the unlikeliest of places
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Photo courtesy of the author.