The following is dedicated to Kenny, with grateful thanks for inspiring my first poem in a great many years.
Capital Offence
I offended someone on the Internet,
it kept me up for half the night.
The words had no malign intent,
I surely did not mean the slight.
It was something short,
not at all like me,
off the cuff humour
I thought all could see.
This was a simple and casual conversation,
the regular and easy banter among friends.
I had no thought nor anticipation,
of raising argument when I hit send.
So in I popped,
with my minor shot,
just a brief little thing
that sprang out so hot.
But talk on the Internet can be hazardous,
something that should give us all pause.
We have only our words to represent us,
and they can be traitors to the cause.
It needn't be said,
nor even suggested,
implied is enough
when intent is contested.
The words inspired by humorous imagination,
the meaning seems clear and worth praising.
But when stripped of their context and relation,
other sense can be refined from their phrasing.
So comes the surprise,
with no warning suspicion,
there is someone
that doubts your intention.
Your words have betrayed you and led you astray,
so you own up and explain what you meant.
But backs comes rejection in very rapid affray,
you're not getting out while that nose is still bent.
Not all will accept,
nor likely excuse,
whatever the reasons
or explanations you use.
The confusion is obvious, you did not mean to hurt,
so you offer apologies for the misunderstanding.
And you tender again those explanations that assert,
you did not mean to rile a friend of long standing.
Sorry can be said,
it can be insisted,
but acceptance is uncertain
when words have been twisted.
Concession, explanation and atonement are all spent,
there seems no correction for these words that have strayed.
What started so lightly, so brief, smiling and innocent,
has now left you miserable, apprehensive and dismayed,
The gallows stand tall,
guilty of nonsense,
words taken badly
can be a capital offence.
gmw 4-Jan-2014.