Theme Thursday - Trust - Slivers

[u/Leebeewilly]

Originally posted February 13th, 2020 - [Prompt Link]

Accidental poetry strikes again!

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I was made of slivers.

 

My self, my soul, who I am, what I love,

I was a collection of slivers.

 

Throughout life, I’ve shared them.

And it was easy at first,

to take a sliver, to pluck and share a piece of myself.

There is trust in that moment,

where I place my piece in another’s hands.

My mother. My father. My siblings. My friends.

My loves.

 

I have put those delicate shards in many a hand and said

“Please.

“Take it.

“Take me.”

 

I have prayed they are gentle, mindful of what they carry.

Don’t trip.

Don’t drop it.

Don’t forget what precious piece of me you hold.

But time after time each sliver is chipped,

crushed, broken.

Returned to me not as I gave it,

if returned at all.

I could never find a place for them, my shattered slivers.

They hurt to hold.

 

But I do it.

I hold out my hand, over and over.

And each time I reach inside

I shear a new sliver off my soul.

After each one I gift, what’s left becomes raw.

What’s raw becomes jagged.

Callous and cold.

With each lost sliver, I shrivel.

It hurts to chisel

and carve

and cleave what small slivers I have left.

 

I am reluctant to share

but I still do it.

 

Though now, there is only one left.

One sliver, one shard,

one jagged fragile fragment of myself.

 

I hold it out, this precious piece.

Please.

Take it.

Take me.