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January 15th, 2026
by Adeyeye Ifeoluwa Christiana
A Spoken Word Poem
Abyss.
Not just a place,
But a person.
Not just a fall,
But a feeling.
Not always dark –
Sometimes, it smiles.
Abyss.
It wears a suit.
Sometimes a wedding dress.
Sometimes...
It wears your own reflection.
They say it's a bottomless pit.
But really, it's a well,
Dug deep by the hands of humanity –
One handful of greed at a time,
One brick of betrayal,
One lie, one cheat, one broken promise,
Until we can't see the sky anymore.
The sad truth?
Most people aren't falling into the abyss –
They're living inside it,
Decorating it,
Calling it home.
I know a man who wants the world.
So he sells his soul for applause.
Builds a life on coins,
But loses his peace in the echo of his own footsteps.
His smile is currency,
But his eyes are bankrupt.
Greed doesn't knock.
It slithers in,
Whispering, More...
Until enough becomes a fairytale
Told only to naïve children.
And love...
Oh, love –
That four-letter illusion wrapped in rose petals and pain.
We pour ourselves into people,
Hoping they'll water us back.
But some just drink,
Until there's nothing left but roots and regret.
A bird falls in love with the sea.
Every day, it sings for the waves.
The sea smiles,
But never tries to fly.
That's the kind of love that sinks you.
Selfishness?
It wears perfume.
Looks like loyalty –
Until tested by inconvenience.
It says, I'm here for you,
But only when the sun is out.
When the storm comes,
They forget your name.
Two brothers share a house.
One lights a fire to stay warm,
And burns the other's bed.
He says, It was cold. I needed it.
And that's how comfort kills compassion.
We don’t talk about betrayal enough –
How it doesn't always wear fangs.
Sometimes, it wears the smile of someone who once prayed for you,
Holds your hand while twisting the knife,
And says, You made me do this.
Hate isn't loud anymore.
It's quiet.
Passive.
It shows up in indifference –
In how we scroll past pain,
Mute the cries of others because it's not our problem.
But here's what they don't tell you –
The abyss isn't just something you fall into.
It grows from within –
From every time you bite your tongue instead of speaking truth,
From every dream you bury alive,
Every tear you pretend not to feel,
Every moment you beg for love
From someone who only hands you silence.
A little boy plants joy in his chest.
The world laughs and steps on it.
So he grows up wearing armor made of jokes,
But cries into his pillow at night,
Hoping someone will ask if he's okay.
No one does.
That boy becomes me.
Maybe he becomes you too.
The abyss stares back into my soul,
And it doesn't blink.
It knows every name I never say out loud,
Every mistake I replay like a lullaby.
It whispers, You are alone.
And sometimes...I believe it.
But I've learned something.
If the abyss is staring,
That means I'm still standing.
Still facing it.
And sometimes,
That's enough.
So light a candle in your ribcage.
Turn your scars into streetlamps.
Let your heartbreak be a compass,
Not a coffin.
Because even in the darkest pit,
You are not nothing.
You are surviving.
And that –
That is defiance.
So when the abyss calls,
And it will,
Don't just stare.
Speak.
Say, I see you.
Say, You're not the end of me.
And then...
Climb.
About the Poet
Adeyeye Ifeoluwa Christiana resides in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti, Nigeria.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art publications
on Adeyeye Ifeoluwa Christiana's Artist Page.
This poem is featured in Comet #7, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Keywords: abyss, emotional resilience, mental health and healing, vulnerability
Previously published in Nigeria Poetry Magazine:
Hold Me / Pages
by Tamilore Ayeni
Nigeria Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
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