an old writer and his words

  • IN HIDING

    What is it she is hiding so assiduouslythat she always shields one face whilefreely offering the one we already know.And why all the coming and going, whynot just be like her cousins, alwayspresent until the final moment and thenmaking a grand exit for all to see.She knows she pulls on us, on ouremotions, we mark…

    Lou Faber

  • TEMPUS

    The clock chimed the hour.How long had he been here,inside the works of the great timepiecemarking imagined units that had meaningonly for him, for all, for no one?He knew his time was limited, alltime would someday be depletedand then what — that was the questionno one dared ask, everyoneanswered. Time was a mazethere was no…

    Lou Faber

  • THE AVATAMSAKA SUTRA’S WISDOM

    You want to ask the masterhow you will know a Buddhaif you come across one.The master will tell youthat he will not describe the faceof the Buddha you mightcome across for you willknow the Buddha whenyou see him if youare ready, thenthe master will addgo look in the mirrorand tell me what you see. A…

    Lou Faber

  • BY MOONLIGHT

    We are waiting patiently, for thatis what you have demanded.We have seized your promises, held themdear, we have done your biddingwithout question, without objection, and stillin our moment of need you dessert us.You have turned your face awayfrom us, refused to cast your eyeson us, you hide when we most need youand all too often…

    Lou Faber

  • OLD BLIND DOGS

    There are times when music takes youto places and events long forgotten, likelistening to Old Blind Dogs and suddenlyI am again a new L2 with two yearsto the J.D. and bar exam, scratching byteaching SAT prep courses, when she calledand said the proverbial rabbit died and Ifinished and broke out in hives for thiswas planned,…

    Lou Faber

  • THE WEIGHT OF MOURNING

    The weight of mourning defies precise measurement,and all of the rules of mathematics fail in an attempt.Grief rejects being placed on scales, there is nevera moment of pure equilibrium, only a teeteringthat always threatens to bring it all down in a heap.A million who are nameless and faceless is an agonyand yet eighty thousand with…

    Lou Faber

  • FROM 1 TO 10

    Modern medicine has made great advancesbut there are still things that seemabsolutely, positively medieval.The chairs in the waiting roomborder on almost comfortable,but in the examining room,since you haven’t yet been invitedup onto the padded table,the chairs are utilitarian at best.And then the moment when the docasks about your pain leveland you eventually sort outwhen he…

    Lou Faber

  • ROSO FACES THE WALL

    When you approachthe teacher what is itthat you expect from her?If you ask herto show you the wayshe will sitand face the wallin silence.What will you learnfrom this?If you arefacing the wallin silenceyou shoutyour answer. A reflection on Case 23 of the Book of Equanimity ( 従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • SHE

    You were a young beautyto my middle aged eyesthat knew, despite the mirror’slies, that I too retainedsome large measure of youth. Even that is now behind us,and I can no longer denythe mirror’s sad truth,my face unable to belie whatI knew time had wrought. And yet your beauty hasnot diminished, rather grownas does a fine…

    Lou Faber

  • SMALL REFLECTION

    It is that moment when the moonis a glaring crescent,slowly engulfed bythe impending night—when the few clouds give outtheir fading glowin the jaundiced lightof the sodium arc street lamp.It nestles the curb—at first a small bird—when touched, a twisted piece of root. I want to walk into the weed-strewnaging cemetery, stand in the shadowof the…

    Lou Faber