Fate

Here in Beirut there are quite a few buildings with tiled exteriors. They're all from another age and most of them are really run down these days--they've become ruins. I'll have to start photographing and sharing the facades of these places because they're amazing. They're also doomed. Someday, they'll be razed and nobody will regret them.

This tiny wall isn't one of those ruins. This isn't some relic of an over-and-done-with architectural fad.  When I look at it that isn't what I see.

I feel like I can see the owner of this tiny section of wall by the gate. As I imagine it, every time one of the neighbors re-tiled a floor or bathroom or kitchen, a furtive inquiry would go out about any excess, any remaining and perhaps unneeded tiles. And, if fate would have it so, the leftovers ended up right here.