The Hasty Tongue

We are never so blind or as blindingly
blameless as when we mortally offend
others to whom we broken-heartedly
attribute our own failings in communication.
While you may dismiss vituperative bile
as an unfortunately unguarded lapse in
social decorum, the hapless target
understands it to be a painful, albeit
fortuitous warning of a potential future.

That hasty tongue, eager to inflict
emotional pain upon others to teach the
lesson that you will not be trifled with at
the unwary offender's expense, overlooks
your propensity to take offence when none
was intended. That damning temperament
and blistering tongue warped by your
defensive ego will be your final epitaph.

It will deliver you to the fate you fear as
you slide weeping, wailing and blaming,
friendlessly into a bleak and lonely future.
Listen my dear, tart is piquant; acid is toxic.
But you're no slouch, you know all that, and
more. You simply cannot equate all this
with your open, trusting, innocent character.

Why did I not speak earlier, before your
splenetic urges became habitual? There was
no 'before'. I did, on occasion, make that
attempt, however feeble, over the years
and to no avail. And I lack the courage to
pursue it now. I too quail with terror before
your seemingly unappeasable rage. And,
my dear, I weep, inconsolably for you.