an old writer and his words

  • COMING BACK

    He appears, rising from the horizonthe sun at his back, as if a miragetaking physical shape and form. He approaches slowly, your eyesstraining to separate himfrom the sun’s growing glow. You wonder if his is a holy manrobed and with a staff, walkingto announce his long awaited return. As he grows closer, you realizehe is…

    Lou Faber

  • BOOK TWO

    So if I have it right, Godmanaged to come up with tenplagues for Moses to visiton Pharaoh, although at the timeMoses probably could notunderstand why it was ten,since God was boundlesslycreative, or so He told Moses. Maybe it dawned on Moseswhen wandering in the desertthat ten was a convenient number,after all, he only gave Mosesten…

    Lou Faber

  • JUSTICE

    The Rabbi always said thatthe highest form of justicewould be to teach a man to fish,rather than to donate fish to him. The Rabbi in question is nowlong dead, and in so many placesteaching a man to fish will onlyenable him to poison his family. We have laid waste to ouir worldassuming someone will clean…

    Lou Faber

  • LEAD ME NOT

    Strange as it may seem,I was tempted to considerCatholicism, not the Roman kindbut that of the breakawy churcheswho accept all, gay or straight,married or divorced, the wholelot of mankind just because. They do believe in heavenwhich is a good alternativeto the Bardo, and having choicesis a good thing even in death. I was truly tempted…

    Lou Faber

  • BEGGAR’S TALE

    I speak clearly, conciselyin an ancient, long forgottentongue that none understand. I tell my tale, leaving outnothing, a summonerin a deaf world, whispering of coins, pulled froman empty pocket and castat your feet, soundless. I point to signs, letteredin my careful hand, withoutmeaning, cryptic to you You urge me to trustin your god even asyou…

    Lou Faber

  • HELL DONE OVER

    My ultimate goal, never to be achievedis to redesign hell and all of its circlesto better reflect the world we live in now. Of course I’d need two circles forpoliticians, one for each major party,and independents get to choose. Catholic priests, minister and rabbiswho abused members of their flocksget a circle of their own with…

    Lou Faber

  • MOSES SAYS TO AARON

    We sat in the tentand you complained againof our condition, knowingwhat lies just out of reach.He speaks to me, not youand there is little you can doto hide your jealousy.I often wonder what mighthave happened if I had wipedthe blood of the lamb from your lintel.It was you who watchedthe calf take shape anddid nothing,…

    Lou Faber

  • SNAKE, PRAY FOR US

    In a time set aside for mourningwe easily remember those, lovedor despised, taken by age, disease,war or poverty and neglect. But trapped in our isolationwe should also pause and recallthe snake, condemned for offeringknowledge for which we were ill-equipped. Let us not forget the ram,whose only sin was to bein the wrong place at the…

    Lou Faber

  • HOLY ARMY

    1. A millennium agothe army of the lorddressed in mail and rodeproud steeds acrossbarren lands, swordsflashing in a red roasting sunwashed in the bloodof the infidels.They stopped for prayerblessing the bodiesleft along the dirt trackleft by their hooves,a common gravefor common facesdiffering only in the colorof skin and hair. 2. In this millenniumthe army of…

    Lou Faber

  • ON THE TENTH PLAGUE

    Mark your doorpost with the bloodof the lamb for this may be the nightwhen God’s emissary arrives for the killingof the first born. Will he be a night birdhalf raven, half vulture or an aged manconcealing his weapon in shabby robes. Mark your doorpost and check itoften for if your neighbor wipesthe blood away, you…

    Lou Faber