an old writer and his words

  • CELESTIAL AWE

    He says that there isa really good chance thatso much of astronomyis delusion, that allof astronomy is history.Go out in the countrywhere there are nostreetlights and lookat the sky and the multitudeof stars that you see.There are atlases listingthe name or numberof each of them butstop and realize howmany of them nowno longer exist as…

    Lou Faber

  • TWO FALLS OUT OF THREE

    He had grown tired of wrestlingwith the moon, knowing he would loseevery match even when he wason the verge of finally pinning it,for it would wax or waneand he would be left graspingat the first rays of approaching dawn.He knew he should give up the effortbut his nature, his stubbornnesswould never allow it so once…

    Lou Faber

  • LUNA

    Today is your dayand for a few momentsyou will take center stageand he will face intoyour shadow, youwill be all we can see,he struggling to peek outunaccustomed to a lesser role.So often you shied awayfrom his glare, as if hewould consume you,how you would often fleehis approach, returningonly after he had departed.But it was alwaysyour…

    Lou Faber

  • HISTORY

    When he said he wanted to be a historianeven his parents laughed at him, remindinghim that “there’s no money to be madein history unless you want to be a teacher,and you are so much better than that.”He knew they wanted him to becomea doctor, or failing that, at least a lawyer.Few were surprised when, in…

    Lou Faber

  • YOU AGAIN

    I have come to recognize the nightas both dear friend and hated foe,purveyor of nightmare and delight.But now I wish that it would stay awayfor my once immortality is goneand for each night I now have one less day.But night always turns down my plaintive prayerand reminds me that I am still aliveand death is…

    Lou Faber

  • SPACING

    We have been told that spacewith its billions of starsand countless galaxies is vastand still largely empty, a voidthat needs no filling, ever expanding.We are small creatures in that vastness,important only to ourselves, motesof cosmic dust easily forgotten.But the space between heart and mindcan be equally vast, one untetheredfrom the other, always a voidthat we…

    Lou Faber

  • ARTISTIC SENSE

    Perhaps the moon should learnwhat so many artists know,that it is more enticingif the body is not blatantly displayed.Certainly the fully nude bodydraws the eye, but showing less,a hint of flesh, of thigh or breast,leaves the viewer wanting more.But the moon cannot seem to helpherself, always the slow stripteaseuntil she is fully bare and thenembarrassed…

    Lou Faber

  • NOCHES

    Some look to the sky this nightto portend their future, certainfate is deeply encrypted there,and listen to the mellifluous chorusof a billion, billion stars offeringsongs as old as time itself.Others see the universe unfolding,all of its history displayed, and we leftto be cosmic archeologists alwaysin search of a Rosetta Stone, standingin awe of what cannot…

    Lou Faber

  • A DEPARTURE

    The sun is departing, sayingfarewell to a day wecan no longer reclaim, lostto history, to our inaction, inattention.We will try and remember it,cling to moments from it,but we know they are illusionsbest left in a past already departed.The stars will peer throughthe flowing clouds, winkingas if we are to guess their secrets,and soon the moon…

    Lou Faber

  • TOTALLY UNFAIR

    You realize, of course, that it wasan arbitrary and capricious decisionno matter what you say, making up the rulesas you go, changing them withoutconsulting those of us who are to bemost affected by the changes. Suremy brothers and sisters probably agreed,more for them with me out of the picture,but don’t give me the lecture on…

    Lou Faber