In Mildred's Parlor

The stage is set in Montag's house with Mildred, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles. The room was blazing hot, he was all coldness, they sat in the middle of an empty desert with three chairs and him standing, swaying, and him waiting for Mrs. Phelps to stop straightening her dress hem and Mrs. Bowles to take her fingers away from her hair. Then he began to read in a low, stumbling voice that grew firmer as he progressed from line to line, and his voice went out across the desert, into the whiteness, and around the three sitting women there in the great hot emptiness.

"The tree that gauges everything.

A tree stands, lone and tall,
Only frequently accompanied by the wind,
The leaves are no good for eating,
And the branches much too weak for nesting.

Each gust of unwelcome wind,
Strips branches,
Tears leaves,
They fall to the ground only to die,
Only to be left alone.

And although new leaves,
New branches are grown,
Those that were lost,
Can never be replaced."