He made a clumsy compliment,

And it was taken for an insult.

Immediately, he tried to explain

The misunderstanding, but

He was told to “stop digging.”

 

And so it was.

He wasn’t in love, exactly,

But he admired her

Constantly and consistently.

He spoke highly of her to colleagues

And mutual acquaintances,

Hoping to eventually mend the rift,

He overcompensated with kindness,

But she seemed to recede further

In the distance with each step

He tried to take forward.

 

And small mistakes can have

Grave consequences. They say

The entire universe is a mess

Because Brahma was too drowsy

During the act of creation,

Which is an important lesson

For fertile but untutored lovers.

 

And as the universe tends to replicate

An original error exponentially,

So relationships can create

Great webs of resentment

And confusion. Even chaos.

 

It was all right, of course.

He found other jobs and

Other social and vocational

Networks away from her gaze.

He found a wife, passed his

Own genes on to unsuspecting

New persons peering into

Brahma’s mistake for the first time.

 

After her divorce, she heard of him

And his relative success and wondered

How such a ham-fisted and socially

Awkward dimwit could carry on.

 

But we do carry on.

Brahma hasn’t had a nap

In eons, and light travels to our

Eyes from the furthest reaches

Of space, just so we can experiment

With clumsy compliments.