The Inquisitors

They would prefer to know more 

than they know. Their raison d'etre 

is discovering what people would rather not 

disclose. Thus, the inquisitors query everyone 

with an air of casualness that is really desperation. 

They lust for information. 

Victims of the gossip mongering 

hope for a shred of privacy 

to avoid what lurks as an impending conflict 

that would take more out of the targets 

being drained for facts than 

the inquisitors eager to share them. 

The only course of action that makes sense 

is to avoid the incessant sponges. 

A tedious pursuit. Especially when what is hidden 

seems hardly worth keeping secret except 

as a matter of principle and of course 

needing to disabuse the many listeners 

of the false stories heaped upon 

their sorry little heads.