an old writer and his words

  • MORNING SONG (Awdl Gywydd)

    The sun creeps down city streetsdew retreats from the grassesand fills the air, with sweet scentuntil spent, the bus passes. The robin sits in the treeas worms flee into the lawn.The morning foretells the rainthat will slowly drain the dawn. The city quietly wakesand stretching, shakes off the sleepit slowly comes back to life,the sun…

    Lou Faber

  • AND TONIGHT

    This should be Paris, he thought,dancing alone in the Tuileries, orEngland, looking down on the Thamesperched atop the London Eye.This was how he imagined it, nottrapped in the madding crowd, everyonefrantically multitasking, searchingfor nirvana or a release from boredom,from the quest for monetary meaningthat had trapped them in a maze withno exit or end point,…

    Lou Faber

  • PAST DUE

    It seems we have an endlesscapacity for imagining peace,exceeded only by our capacityfor greed and selfishness.We announce our beliefsin equality, equity, diversityand abide them so longas they don’t impede ourdesires, wants, wishes.We offer alms to the poorsolace to the weak, prayersfor the needy so long as theyremain anywhere we do nothave to see or interact…

    Lou Faber

  • ZHAOZHOU ROTATES THE CANNON

    If you ask a masterhow to become a Buddhahe will say, simply,that you are one,but, he will add,if you knowthat you areyou will nevertruly be a Buddha. A reflection on case 74 of the Shobogenzo, Dogen’s True Dharma Eye 正法眼蔵

    Lou Faber

  • A GIFT

    As your birthday approaches, Mother,I should pause and thank youfor your bequest of grace, a gift youleft me on you passing ten years beforeI found you, found myself again.It was more than the helical part of methat finally became apparent, morethan a heritage imagined but unknown.It was something as simple asa college yearbook picture, for…

    Lou Faber

  • VISITORS

    As much as he needed sleephe had grown to dread itfor each night they visited him,always whispering, he strainingto hear if they had wisdom to offeror were simply there to mock,to plague him, as recompense for someimagined sin, some innocent mistakeor simply because eternity canfairly quickly become boring.He knows their number willonly grow over time…

    Lou Faber

  • INTO THE DARKNESS

    We live in an age when logic has failed and our days come with the darkness of night leaving all of our plans and dreams derailed. We imagined a world, fully detailed to leave our children, that was their birthright. We live in an age when logic has failed and the battles we fought, the…

    Lou Faber

  • AGAIN, REALLY?

    As you age, and I writefrom increasingly painful personal experience,life becomes ever more paradoxical.Things you once could easily do,wanted to do often, become difficultand some almost impossible(get your mind out of that gutter,I meant things like heavy liftingAnd home maintenance projects).And things you never thoughtyou would ever do becomethe stuff of daily life (just askyour…

    Lou Faber

  • THREADS

    They keep arriving in my email,sometimes one or two a day,and then nothing for a week or more.I look at them out of curiosity,because I have learned all I wantedsome time ago and they are like icingon a cake I no longer intend to eat.But they are “family” of sorts, distantalways, remote usually, but I…

    Lou Faber

  • MIMOYAN’S PITCHFORK

    When you sitbefore the teacherand he asks whatis it you seekfrom him, if you answerhe will say he cannotgive you whatyou already have.If you say nothingand stay silenthe will say the worldis all yours. A reflection on case 73 of the Shobogenzo, Dogen’s True Dharma Eye 正法眼蔵

    Lou Faber