please, some compassion for the insensitive

Some of us find
it's easy to see,
to foresee
to five see
to sixth sense it, some of us
have a seemingly preternatural zen
sense for others' hot buttons
and no-cross lines. How easy
life and human interaction
must seem, for those people

For those unfortunates among us, who
try as they might, are constantly told
they are tone-deaf to the infinitely
subtle, sprawling, intricate web of sensitivity,
woven in beautiful snarls from the threads
that each and every individual
differently spins out into the air
- and expects to see respected!
- for those who are not so blessed
with such fine-honed sense
of what is about to be taken askance, I
will make my plea now:

That compassion be extended.

Please,
have compassion for those who, this time around,
were not able to predict your particular sensitivity up-front.

So many suffer through life,
born through no fault of their own,
with no Spider-Sense that goes off clanging alarum
on anything that might trip or set off
the jangling sensitivities of this
or that specific other person. Life
can be very hard for these,
the sensitivity-impaired. Many of them
are honestly and sincerely, compassionate individuals
- who try hard, often, hard as fuck,
and who would and do hate to cause
hurt, harm, or upset, and who every time
it happens every damn time, it happens and I
am left wringing my hands after, helplessly
they, I mean, are left wringing their hearts and heads, trying
to figure out how
to see it coming next time
And coming up empty,
blindsided again. When you find yourself

in a world where so many
people's taboos and sensitivities
strike you as impossible
to predict or even to understand, sometimes
the only possible solution you come up with is:

to shut the hell up already.