• WITH PEN AND PRAYER

    It all came crashing down. That was the ending he had written, so that was how it would end. And this time he actually liked the ending which was not often the case. He could not remember a time when the ending came to him so naturally. And the ending was always the hardest part.…


  • DA CAPO AL FINE

    “And then it all came crashing down around him.” That was going to be the last sentence in his novel. He had known it would be the last sentence for years for it was the perfect ending, one that left the reader wondering “what then?” Seeing it on the monitor only confirmed his judgment that…


  • FINITO

    He always wondered how the story would end. He was tempted to read the last page of every novel he picked up but he realized that he would have a shelf full of books in no time at all, because once he knew the ending he wouldn’t, couldn’t bother to read the rest. He became…


  • ON ARRIVING

    They arrive after a long flightfrom tyranny, from oppressionfrom the nightmare of endlessfear, from hunger, from faithdenied, from the bottomlessdepths of poverty, scarredmemories etched in their souls,hoping for an ending as muchas wishing for a new beginning.They have been here, a newgeneration, raised on the stories,versed in the painful history,still residual anger bornof love for…


  • A QUESTION OF TIMING

    Umberto Eco, I believe,intending to or not,has found the perfect wayto bring classic playsback to life, to enable usto reinterpret theseold works, to hold theirreincarnated selves dear. All you need do is decidewhether you are onewho prefers beginningsor finds ends more satisfying. Go see Hamlet, but missthe first act or so, and museon why he…


  • IN THE BEGINNING

    You so very want there to be no ending but there must be, just as there had to be a beginning and you had no say about that. Endings are hard, they remind you of small deaths, all but one, but each is also a birth of sorts, and like you know, they arise and…


  • ONCE

    There was a time not all that long ago, he reminds me, when the event of an eclipse was a certain sign the world was ending. Prayers were offered in profusion, and the event proceeded and passed, so faith in prayer was restored, if not in astronomy. Today eclipses are viewed as just other celestial…


  • KEMBO’S ONE ROAD 鐵笛倒吹 八十四

    As you walk along a road do you know where it begins or where it will end and what lies along it. Perhaps the road is a twisted loop with neither beginning or ending, but if asked where you are on the road you are always here. A reflection on Case 84 of The Iron…