I am reminded, in my musings, of the Hagia Sophia. This lovely building began as a church and became a mosque. In this process, devout Muslims obeyed their faith by destroying Christian iconography covering the walls. Islam forbids portraiture in its places of worship.

At different times in my long existence, I sought succor from both faiths and found some solace among them, but my solace is ever tinged with alienation, for I am never a member of my surroundings. It is the way of what I am. At best, I am but placid when among them, but I am never of them, not anymore.

Now the Christian mosaics are being restored, at the dear cost of the Islamic patterns that overlay them. Both cannot be sustained; one must be denied for the other to be seen. It mirrors a memory that evades my remembrance. If only...