Low self-esteem can literally destroy a human being.
It starts as a whisper, a shadow at noon,
A thief in the garden that withers the bloom.
It sits in the marrow, it settles in bone,
Building a kingdom where one is alone.
It is mirrors that lie, distorting the light,
Turning the morning to permanent night.
It crafts every failure with surgical care,
And braids every worry into despair.
It acts like an anchor, heavy and deep,
While promises falter and bitterness keeps.
It feeds on the spirit, it drinks up the pride,
Till there’s nowhere left for the self to reside.
It is silence that screams, it is doubt that commands,
It crumbles the resolve in trembling hands.
Until, like a slow-burning house in the rain,
The structure collapses under its own strain.
For it doesn’t strike once with a blade or a blow,
It kills like the winter, steady and slow;
A desert of spirit, a hollowed-out tree—
The quiet undoing of all you could be.
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Author:
Friendship (
Offline) - Published: June 24th, 2026 19:20
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 46
- Users favorite of this poem: sorenbarrett, Ogunisjustice, ms.divine, Tristan Robert Lange, RSM0812

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Comments5
It's only too easy and too comfortable to wallow. Know it all too well. 🙏🕊️
Thank you
Welcome 🙏🕊️
A good description cast in allegory nicely written with rhyme. A fave
Thank you
You are most welcome my friend
Good write F. There must be something of good, of use, in each of us, or else we would be completely useless, worthless, a waste of space. And probably more than one good thing, several in fact, for each person.
Thank you
Friendship, you ain't kidding, my friend. What struck me most is how relentlessly the metaphors build upon one another. From whisper...to shadow...to anchor...to slow-burning house...to hollowed tree, each image deepens the emotional landscape without feeling repetitive. It's a sobering and beautifully crafted reflection on an often unseen struggle. 🌹🖤🙏🕯️
Thank you🌹
I wish i could write like you. My work is dribble compared. Your poems are going to rhyme forever in time.
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