an old writer and his words

  • THREE HAIKU

    With every breathdeath is a moment closerand so is rebirth this unknown riveris not the one I stepped inone minute ago birth is terminalpromising unknown minutesdeath is a rebirth

    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

  • SOLITUDE

    We are often blessed with solitudeyet we consider it a curse,for being alone can be difficult,more so when it is with yourself.The cacophony of the mindhas no off switch, and the outersilence is like a volume knobturned slowly to maximum.It can be bearable, but thereis always a lingering fearthat it may have no end point,that…

    Lou Faber

  • RYUGE PASSES THE CHIN REST

    You say you area seeker asking this teacherand that teacher to giveyou the dharmaand the knowledgeof how to attainenlightenment.Each teacher merelystrikes you withthe keisakuso you move on.Each teacherhas given youthe heart of dharma,why can’t you see it? A reflection on Case 80 of the Book of Equanimity, Shoyoroku 従容錄

    Lou Faber

  • SLOW DOWN?

    She is four and you realizequickly you have no ideawhat four is like, a personlooking for herself, uncertainwhat she will find and fearlessenough not to care, always curious.You know these days cannot last,that she will progress at a speedthat is dizzying and you don’twant them to end, for memoriesoften age badly, and can slip away.But…

    Lou Faber

  • SO CLOSE AND YET

    Some say that we were oncebriefly so close you couldproperly call us one person.I know it did not last, and Igave up looking for youfor the longest time, althoughI always felt the connectionbetween us had never weakened.Years later I did get withineight or so feet of you but younever acknowledged my presenceso I moved on…

    Lou Faber

  • PAYMENT DUE

    He only wanted to be forgotten, heput on mask after mask seekingthe anonymity that celebrity denied.There he was satanic, freely condemnedfor thoughts he shared that gratedon their sense of self-worth, their egos,and here almost angelic, if not to betrusted, no one knowing which he was realand which a carefully crafted veneer.Still he found neither solace…

    Lou Faber

  • ONLY ONE WORLD

    Everyone wants to go back tothe “I wish it were like this world,”one that never existed, couldn’twith each of those worlds beingunique and unlike every otherand even if it were possibleonly one person would gettheir wish fulfilled leavingthe rest of us in a placethat we can never fully imagine,So knowing they cannot go there,they want…

    Lou Faber

  • CHOSHA ADVANCES A STEP

    If you are askedby your teacherhow your practiceis going, will you sayit goes wellor will you sayit goes badly.If you say eitherthe teacher may frown.But the teacherwill smile whenyou say it goesand nothing more. A reflection on case 79 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • THEY WANT

    They all want to tell mewhich direction I should go, thatno matter which direction I am goingit is not the right direction.They want to tell me what to say,that what I am saying is wrong,although I am wholly silent.They want to tell mewhat to think, what I shouldnot even think, although theycannot know my thoughts.They…

    Lou Faber