That's... about as cryptic as positive affirmations. The start or end of what, exactly? But Doc just nods since it seems to be getting something off Malcolm's chest. It had not been his place to pry from the very start, so he's not about to start asking too many questions now.

"A container of verses." Belonging, presumably, to a religion of self-help which Doc happens not to subscribe to.

"They could be thinly-veiled threats, or pearls of wisdom from wiser men than I or perhaps the dearly departed. I--" Doc purses his lips and shakes his head. "Am not certain of their origin."