Words

Then it occurred to me
that the delicate shades
of feeling, of reaction,
are the result of communication,

and without such communication
they tend to disappear.

A man with nothing to say has no words.

Can its reverse be true—a man
who has no one to say anything to
has no words
as he has no need
for words?

-- John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley in Search of America