#splinter
1. TRANSIENCE
I,
sentinelled
In the drizzle
Of a time
Wet----------
Like a drake
Without a nest
Trembling ----------------
Like a lily
At streamside you beckoned
And gave me shelter
In your dome
But
When a deluge
Chased the drizzle
And the sky hounds
Sanctioned the chase
You chased me out
Into the cold.
2. DWELLING
I, too,
have known
the rustle of cold on skin
and the silence
that drips
from doors unopened.
But once,
a roof leaned low
not to send me off—
but to listen.
It did not promise
forever,
only the now:
a mat,
a bowl of warmth,
a gaze that did not flinch.
And so I stayed.
Storms grumbled.
Tiles cracked.
The walls sometimes wept.
Still—
I swept the hearth.
I planted figs.
I became
dweller,
not guest.
3. THRESHOLD
I stand
between door and dusk,
with a heart still dripping
from old rains.
Your mat is clean.
Your fire glows.
But I smell
the memory of smoke
from houses I once called home.
I do not ask
to be a god
or guest—
only to bring
my whole weight in,
shadow and all.
If I step in,
will you flinch
when thunder speaks my name?
If you step back,
know this:
I have learned
to build fire
from splinters.
And I will not
knock twice.
© Lanre Adebayo
May 24
May 24, 2026 at 3:52 PM UTC
life is a tree-
it grows,
grows,
grows,
but then it falls
or breaks
or splinters into a million pieces
those million pieces are salvageable,
sometimes.
when they aren’t they rot,
rot,
rot
a rock hits the tree
and the bark falls away,
leaving the tree bare and unprotected
the weather and the world fight to pull it down
the tree stands tall,
sometimes.
when it doesn’t it will rot,
rot,
rot
broken and battered-
splintered
Jun 9, 2025
Jun 9, 2025 at 3:04 PM UTC
Every time someone leaves me
it feels like they’ve taken a dagger straight to my heart
It isn’t a fast motion but slow and painful
The suffering prolonged.
It isn’t made out of metal, but wood
When it’s pulled out of my body
Each time, they leave behind pieces of themselves,
splinters
I wonder how many I’ve collected?
Im sure by now I can create a dagger if my own.
Mar 8, 2023
Mar 8, 2023 at 8:12 PM UTC
I didn’t want to let it go
To be honest
I wanted it to work
But banging on a closed door
Only put splinters
In my hands
Apr 19, 2020
Apr 19, 2020 at 6:27 PM UTC
She is December
as cold as winter
as hot as summer
she is love
she is all I remember
she is a splinter
in my heart
Feb 20, 2019
Feb 20, 2019 at 10:34 AM UTC
Give me a break, god
Tell me all the things that I haven’t done right
All the ways that I’ve been a sore sight
How am I a splinter in your side
I’m trying not to just deny
I’m trying hard to leave the questions
Let the roar of peace cancel them out
But I do find that on this mission
The things I see just take me out
I’m tired of having to peoce together
All the things that I’ve done wrong
And when I die, light as a feather
My heart will sing a cleared up song
Jan 31, 2019
Jan 31, 2019 at 12:17 AM UTC
Starring at the world
through a fractured freeze frame
Splintering my skin as I draw closer clawing to the faded paint only to end up on the other side
To a world as bland and gray as it was on the other side.
Dec 3, 2018
Dec 3, 2018 at 11:31 AM UTC
jack-frost blue on snow white
circles of grey around midnight black
against the velvet night sky
the silent constellations
i fell
and fell
and fell
i bathed in your irises
but my feet couldn't reach the bottom
and when i tried to surface
the air was frigid
slicing my consciousness into ribbons
i took a breath
the chill seeped in
first it was my toes
then my legs
my stomach
my fingers
my arms
my chest
then you blinked
the ice fractured
and i
i shattered from the inside
out
Oct 3, 2017
Oct 3, 2017 at 1:05 PM UTC
Like dark splinter in mind
my thoughts expand,
beating hard to release the veil of darkness.
Clouds surface behind eyes,
longing for sun.
Light knocks on door
as key of freedom is ready to be turned.
Membranes longing for clean blood
to penetrate consciousness vibrate.
New network of love fibers
his growing to
transmute cells decaying.
With breath,
splinter becomes dislodged
starting its movement to purge.
With grounding slow breath
determination, optimism
and drive for new beginnings
anchor.
With awakening comes time
to align for freedom
as shard is lifted
to demand change.
Being Blinded to prison of limit
and slavery now disintegrates
to see greater purpose.
Time to move through the door
of awakening.
Time turn key with consciousness
with purpose
Lift your splinter to dry tears
releasing stronghold of society
for your visions to materialize.
Stop and empower self
to ride new waves
and take hold responsibly to
evict the remaining fragments
Begin a feeding tube of truth
inside love
respect, compassion, and abundance
Lead the way to realign
to set the society
to the dial of freedom
out of the matrex of control.
THAT is why you came.
Aug 15, 2017
Aug 15, 2017 at 10:07 AM UTC
You broke me.
and you had me convinced
that the only way to piece me together
was by the glue
crafted by your empty compliments
and counterfeit love.
Where did i learn that you can heal a **** with a knife?
Probably where I learned that if something sounds true, it is.
The song named after you lulled me to a peaceful sleep.
My ears unfailingly grasped
the soothing rhythm,
the reassuring beat,
and the promising harmony;
but disregarded the ominous lyrics.
I shouldn't have been surprised when i woke,
tied up by the rope of your unfulfilled promises,
silenced by duct tape with the words "I didn't want to hurt you" written across it in washable ink,
and with a gun I had given to you for your protection aimed at my head.
I wish you would just shoot me with that gun already
It would hurt less than waiting
But you wont
You keep me at the perfect distance
to where you're comfortable
and I'm falling apart.
At first it hurt like the waves.
the crashing, overbearing waves
that were shaped something like your lips
when you said you needed time.
But now it hurts like a splinter.
the kind that you don't realize you have
until you return home from the wooden playground
and the excitement-induced adrenaline fades
and you realize what seemed like harmless satisfaction
sneakily left you with a burdensome wound.
the kind of splinter that you try to remove
and realize it hurts less to just let it sit there.
even though everyone says that
"if you just get past the pain of removing it, you'll be completely relieved."
all you can feel is the pain of the extraction
so you decide to do nothing
and let the lesser pain stay.
Aug 24, 2016
Aug 24, 2016 at 1:55 PM UTC
A picture on the internet told me
That I should write every day
Because it would make me stronger.
It said to write even when I couldn't
But if I couldn't then how could I?
That’s the problem.
If I don’t write every day then I become weaker.
The weaker I become, the less I write.
How can I write to get stronger when
I am already too weak to write?
Its like throwing a bird without wings and expecting it to fly.
Each time it hits the ground it is closer to dying
But it can save itself if it can just fly.
But that's the problem!
The bird becomes more jaded every day it doesn't fly
And the more jaded he is, the less he wants to.
How could he possibly save himself
If he is already dying?
Its like slamming a door in a decaying home.
The hinges creak and the wood splinters,
It comes closer to falling apart with every motion
But the people who use it only use it for their own privacy.
That’s the problem.
That door creaks and splinters every time it is closed.
Keep closing it and there will be no more door,
Just an empty space in a wall,
Another hallway.
There is only one decaying home and only a certain number of doors,
Pretty soon they will all fall apart in your hands.
It sounds like a metaphor.
Apr 8, 2015
Apr 8, 2015 at 12:17 PM UTC
Someday
I'll be with someone else
Who I'll love more
Than I ever loved you
More than I ever dreamed of loving you
Someday
You will find someone
Who will love you more
Than I ever did
More than I ever dreamed of
Someday
Your memories of me
Will be like those of high school
There, but nowhere near the front
I'm just the guy who loved you in and after college.
Someday
My pain will go away
And I'll have new prayers to pray
You won't be on my mind,
You'll be hard to find
You'll no longer be inside
But right now it hurts
Like a splinter I can not pull out
And right now it is here
Like my reflection in a lake
I've seen before
Someday
You'll be nothing but
Small smiles
I can not cry enough years full of tears
To make that day come sooner,
But I can put paint on walls all night
And pray to God all day
And hope that something will change
That I'll be able to say
More than "Goodbye" to you
someday
Feb 16, 2015
Feb 16, 2015 at 11:57 PM UTC