an old writer and his words

  • TAKE WING

      There comes a moment when, if our backs are turned, it will arrive and if we notice it will withdraw and hide in corners. We may see it in the periphery and sneak up on it. If we move quickly enough, we can snatch it up and watch it fly off into the morning.

    Lou Faber

  • NIGHT ARRIVES

      As night advances, the clouds march in slow retreat to the horizon under the tattoo of the crows cadenced cawing. Once gone from sight, under the always watchful moon, they shall regroup and prepare to reemerge in the first shadow of the sun of morning.

    Lou Faber

  • PAX ET VERITAS

    When you suddenly stop and freeze all that is going on around you, when silence replaces the sounds of life, you can finally hear yourself not think. This is the peace that always seems to lurk just out of reach, out of sight. Let it embrace you if you dare.

    Lou Faber

  • OLD MEN

    It is always odd watching older men gather, talk about their lives, about how much they no longer remember, of last year, and a decade ago, about the infinite details they can clearly recall about the time they spent in the Army, Navy, Air Force, the smell of Slop-on-a-shingle, of field stripped butts in a…

    Lou Faber

  • AN ALIEN(‘S) JOURNEY

    He has just returned from the land of Others, where he expected to see all manner of things that would, could never happened to him. He thought he would be able to explain why this was, but now those things are happening to him. He suspects it is because he came to close to the…

    Lou Faber

  • THE GIRL COMES OUT 無門關 四十二

    She sits undisturbed Shakyamuni by her side. You can wave at her, she will pay you no mind. You cannot grasp her mind and maintain a hold on your own, you will grow deaf from the chatter but a child can curl at her feet and she will stroke his forehead in perfect Samadhi. A…

    Lou Faber

  • ON THIS NIGHT

    On this night the moon retreats from the sky, leaving the stars to play hide and seek behind broken clouds. The silence is enfolding, save for the whistle of a distant train traversing the city, and the whisper of the wind caressing the needles of the pine who answer wih a passionate moan.

    Lou Faber

  • WALKING

    The entirety of this practice is to learn to walk with a lightness, so that you contact the earth, the grass, not tread on it, so that the earth and the grass caress your feet and not try to push them away, and all the while there must be a gentleness of breath so the…

    Lou Faber

  • LEGACY

    We often believe that the best way to honor the dead is to praise them. When my time is gone, do not praise me for your praise will fall on deadened ears. If you believe in the power of the word speak aloud in my name, if you dare, commit the deed as you believe…

    Lou Faber

  • MINDFUL (THREE HAIKU)

    the bell rings three times outside the birds fall silent all sitting zazen clocks come to a stop time no longer has meaning in meditation apple blossoms fall covering the ground in pink promising summer

    Lou Faber