an old writer and his words

  • REAR VIEW MIND

    I spent too much time lookingbackward, looking into the past,looking into the mirrorto frame a dream historyof my desires and fears.He called one morning, lefta message, “Mother died,more details will follow.”A mother his by birth,mine by legal act.I should have felt stunnedanger, I said quietly to myselfhe’s cocky, has issues, and wentabout momentary mourning.That is…

    Lou Faber

  • REINCARNATION

    In my next lifeI want to come backas a Great Blue Heron. I will majesticallystand by a lake, capturingfish, capturing the eyeof all who wander by,pausing in awe and desire. And I will havethe one thing I knowI now lack, that traitthat has escaped mefor far too many years,patience, the abilityto stand and stareuntil the…

    Lou Faber

  • ADMISSION

    We do not like to admitthat nature laughs at usas we pretend to bend herto our will and desires. We dam and reroute rivers,but the river knows wellthat it will return, flowwhere it wishes, for itwill be here long afterwe have returned to the soil. Still, now and again naturegrows weary with our meddlingand unleashes…

    Lou Faber

  • I HAVE NEVER BEEN

    six foot four with a full headof longish brown hair neatly cut five foot ten as the Air Forceclaimed although I neverconformed to their assumption sitting on the deck of a yachttrying to decide if it wassufficiently large enoughto meet my desires sitting on a beach in Hawaiimy oceanside villamere steps away,the housekeeper beckoningwith a…

    Lou Faber

  • IF ONLY

    As I have aged, I hopeI have gotten smarteror at least more ableto adapt to life’s issues. But there are still areaswhere knowledge fails,where you cannot hopeto attain what you want. World peace is one such,honest politicians another,and the list could go onbut you get the picture. The ultimate failure howeveris imagining that you can…

    Lou Faber

  • CONVERSATION

    If you want a good conversationbirds should be your first choice,wading birds at the top of the list,although you still have to be quickfor if you meander they will lose interest. Animals are to who you should turnif you need advice on getting throughthe omnipresent obstacles life raisesto impede your smooth passage through it,but note…

    Lou Faber

  • GIMME A HUG

    It seems odd, as I am nota hugger by nature,I love trees and hugfamilially but asidefrom family, huggingjust is not somethingI ever did. Now, when huggingis a potential deathsentence if finishedI see many around meall at a safe distanceand feel a strong desireto embrace some,knowing they wouldwelcome my arms. When this is over,when distance issomething…

    Lou Faber

  • KENSHO

    Tonight, if all goes well, I will bea monk in a good-sized Buddhist temple.I am hoping it will be in Nara,at Todai-ji perhaps, or Asakusaat Senso-ji, or better still somewherein Kyoto, although it might well bein the Myanmar jungle or somewheredeep within the Laotian highlands. One problem with that world isthat I have no control…

    Lou Faber

  • IT’S ABOUT TIME

    My first inclination, in factmy strong desire, when he asks mewhat time it is, is not to consultmy watch, but to say that we livein an age of unprecedented uncertainty,an era of division and incivility,and days fraught with risk thateach might be the last. I know he wants to know the hourand the minute, but…

    Lou Faber

  • THE SON

    He hangs on the guest room wall, simply framed in black, adjoining his more ornate, Cheshire- cat smiling sister. He isn’t brooding really, there is just a certain needful sadness, as he stares out, imagining how he pictured things would be, how they were supposed to be, realizing here, they never were, never will be,…

    Lou Faber