an old writer and his words

  • A MISTAKE IN SPEAKING 無門關 三十九

    When you speak the words of the Buddha you are lost. Light is everywhere in silence but the tongue must hide in the dark of the mouth. Buddha’s words are flowers unfolding in the dawn by the side of the still pond, the eyes hear the song and respond in silent chorus. A reflection on…

    Lou Faber

  • HAT

    It is hard for even me to remember that there once was a time when every man wore at hat, whether a simple watch cap or Greek fisherman’s hat, a fedora to be avoided if you value your life, a bowler of great propriety. I wear a simple Nepalese hat a reversible pillbox style, and…

    Lou Faber

  • OPTICAL DELUSION

    As you slowly approach it it grows perceptibly larger. This does not surprise you, for you are familiar with the principles of physics. What does surprise you is that the details grow ever less clear as you approach, as though they retreat under your slow advance. You think this strange, wonder what has gone wrong,…

    Lou Faber

  • MORNING AT THE SHORE

    Along the shore, this morning, the clouds piled up, refusing entry to the promised sun, which hung back forlorn. The waves charged onto the sand like so many two year olds in full tantrum, banging against all in sight and retreating, only to charge again, pushing away any and all in their path. The wind…

    Lou Faber

  • INTO THE TIDE

    The woman at the next table stares at her fork with eyes which appear bottomless pools of sorrow. She picks at the noodles, raises and lowers the glass of wine without sipping. She is lost within herself and even the waiter approaches with trepidation for fear of falling in and drowning in her sadness. In…

    Lou Faber

  • WRITTEN ON WATER

    Tomorrow this poem will most assuredly no lnger be here, though when during the night it will slip away, never again to be seen, I don’t know or perhaps it will return in a form I would not recognize, re-crafted by the hand of an unseen editor. It may take on a meaning unfamiliar, or…

    Lou Faber

  • WHERE?

    The moment you are certain that you know where you are going is the precise moment at which you become totally lost. The moment you realize that you have little idea where you are and none about where you will end up is when you found yourself. At this moment you are here which was…

    Lou Faber

  • SEKIKŌ’S SHORTCOMINGS 正法眼蔵 語十

    If you have no earlobes there will be nothing at all to hear. If he has no eyes, it is you who grow blind and your silence can drown his ceaseless tongue. The stick speaks louder than you both. A reflection on Case 50 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • AUDIENS CAVE

    I just want you to know that the Old Man set me up, and I’ll admit that, cagey as I am, I never saw it coming. I mean I knew he was capable of anything, but he always adopted this holier than thou persona so why would I imagine He’d do this? And it wasn’t…

    Lou Faber

  • SENĀTUS POPULUSQUE RŌMĀNUS

    As we walked slowly through the Forum the Coliseum receding into the late afternoon, the Virgins stood patiently as befits a priestess trained to avoid the stares of passing men, even tourists such as we were, the columns staring down reminding us of our youth despite the birthdays that we celebrated with the joy of…

    Lou Faber