4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Notes
Track nine deepens the consolation. If the last song named my people, this one names where we eat. The image is two tables. There is a long table in every camp, and the lamplight on it is warm, and the food is good - but there is a price they do not print. You agree, and you keep agreeing, and you never say the thing. And I could never keep from saying the thing.
So the song sits me at the other table. Off in the corner, out of the light. It is smaller and it is scattered and some of the chairs sit empty - but the only price there is honesty and a love for the Lord. The verses fill two of those chairs. One is a man who found my little website in the early days, called me clean out of the blue, and that Sunday stood inside the door of my church - I am a supralapsarian, and he looked at me and said, me too. The other is the friend on the screen I have never once met in person and have written to for twenty years - realer than most men I have stood beside. I gave this one a quartet of weathered voices, because the song about the other table ought to be sung by the other table.
And the bridge widens it past my own lifetime. The other table is longer than the lamplight lets you see. It runs back through every man who would not hold the party line - even teachers in the desert sand who ate here long before me. The honest and the homeless have always had a table. It was the only table I ever wanted.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
There is a long table in every camp, and the lamplight on it is warm
And the food is good and the talk is easy and a man would want to stay
But there is a price they do not print, a price for the chair you take
You agree, and you keep agreeing, and you never say the thing
And I could never keep from saying the thing
[Chorus]
So I eat at the other table
Off in the corner, out of the light
It is smaller and it is scattered and some of the chairs sit empty
But every man who found it came because it was true
And nobody at the other table ever asked me to agree
I only had to be honest, and I had to love the Lord
That is the whole price of the other table
[Verse 2]
There was a man who found my little website in the early days
He called me up clean out of the blue, asked me where I went to church
I told him, and that Sunday morning, there he stood inside the door
I said I am a supralapsarian, and he looked at me and said, me too
And that was the other table starting
[Verse 3]
And there is a man I have never seen, not once in twenty years
He found that same old website too, and he has never let me go
We have written most every day so long I cannot find the start of it
A friend I have only ever known through a screen
And realer than most men I have stood beside
[Chorus]
So I eat at the other table
Off in the corner, out of the light
It is smaller and it is scattered and some of the chairs sit empty
But every man who found it came because it was true
And nobody at the other table ever asked me to agree
I only had to be honest, and I had to love the Lord
That is the whole price of the other table
[Bridge]
And the other table is longer than the lamplight lets you see
It runs back through the years to every man who would not hold the line
There were teachers in the desert sand who ate here long before me
The honest and the homeless
They have always had a table of their own
[Final and Outro]
So let them keep the long warm table and the price they will not name
I have got my corner and my few, and I would not move for anything
The other table
Out of the light
But every chair was filled by truth
And it was the only table I ever wanted
Commentary