an old writer and his words

  • WHY NOT

    Today in odd places,at the most unexpected moments,a child will smile without reason,a young girl will laugh,the young boy will strokethe neck of a wandering cat,and in that placeat that momentthere will be a simple peace.Only the children will notice this,though it gives lie to thosewho deem peace impossible.A child knows that it isonly preconceptionsand…

    Lou Faber

  • SENBAZURU

    10,000 origami cranesfloated down over Tokyoeach bearing the soul of one gone in nature’s recent fury.Each crane cried freelythe tears flowing into the Sumidaforming a wave that washesback to the sea, replenishing its loss.We, too, shed our tearsand look skywardsad in the knowledgethat with each passing daystill more craneswill fill the skymore tears seep backto…

    Lou Faber

  • JIZO’S BUDDHISM 鐵笛倒吹 四十八

    In setting along the pathdo you follow Hofukucovering your eyes so asnot to see evil, ears so as not to hear itand close your mindto wandering ideasor is Jizo’s pathyours as well? With eyes shut tightthe mind will still see,with ears covered soundwill echo, growing louderwith no hope of escape.With open eyeslight is reflected, with…

    Lou Faber

  • FIRST KISS

    You ask me if I rememberwhen we first kissed, and then addand what was it really like for me. I know the answer you expect,and I am reluctant to tell youotherwise, but I have to be honest. It was moments after I left youat your door on our first date,having found my car finallyin the…

    Lou Faber

  • AND CUT

    It is a sad fact of life that Floridahas disqualified itself as a movie setfor a vast number of filmsthat will now go before the cameraon the streets of some Canadian city. No one is making films aboutdrug runners coming ashore inteal and pink with a soundtrackby Jan Hammer, since the illicitdrug of the moment…

    Lou Faber

  • WAR

    I have yet to wander the medieval battlefieldsof Europe and it increasingly seems I never will.I have visited my share of castles in Ireland and Scotland,but the acoustics there are not good, and I did nothear the anguished cry of soldiers falling in battle, I have seen rivers, quiet now, where the bloodof the vanquished…

    Lou Faber

  • EXTINCTION

    My granddaughter is intenselyconcerned with the growing lossof species, and rightly so, and Ishare her fears, though I feellargely powerless to do anything. She has the faith of youth, a beliefthat she and her peers can,with work, effect a lasting change,climb up the slippery slope whichwe have cast them down, and saveother species from a…

    Lou Faber

  • AUDITIONS DAILY

    It should be easy, my friend said,to imagine yourself a characterin a novel you particularly like,like I’ve found myself in any numberof Tom Clancy novels, since I caneasily become a CIA agent, it fits me. I know I’d shoot myself in the footor worse, and I’d keep no secretsif you even threatened to torture me,and…

    Lou Faber

  • DAIJI’S INNER CULTURE 鐵笛倒吹 十語

    Eyes can look withinand discover a boundless universebut the tongue alonecan speak only soundsthat go falseas they dance away unseen. The silence of zazenspeaks the dharma,the teisho is offered mutely. The space betweeneye and tongueis but three inchesor an unbridgeable void. A reflection on Case 15 of the Iron Flute Koans.

    Lou Faber

  • THE BEAST

    Anger is an unruly beast,slinking around out of sight,bit always present on the periphery. What is remarkable is that anyone,anything might become its prey,and no one will know until the moment. But, and it is a significant but, whenit is a person who is the target,the lurking anger can be shunted aside if you simply…

    Lou Faber