May I have a word with you, we ask another when we want to share something with him, usually something pressing or important, some scandal, some trial, some bit of frankness and exposure. In all honesty, though, the word shall have us, the words we speak shall have us in our speaking when we pull the other aside. They shall come when they wish, as they wish, sweetly and encouraging or harshly and admonishing as they wish, and our lips and tongues will only flap and kiss along with them, in a faithful sort of mimicry, faithful as the possessed can be to the possessor. So we should ask, rather: May this word have us, may we be had by the word? Or, better: A word has come–let it take us!
Love the Dust 