They gather at that table.
Initially strangers, they became
Familiar to the lips of each other.
Knuckles speared against their chins,
They leaned and listened
To the voice that set them there.

He warned them of their fate, noise
doubts, misunderstandings,
the patient truth of time.
He repeated no one would know them
by their garment or fortune or eyes
lit with zeal but by their word.

When they parted,
each went to serve
the fiery tongue.