When Silence is the Creed

A few months ago I sat down to write a poem about my journey as a man and discovering my own masculinity. Often young men are not taught what masculinity is: we are left to discover this on our own and in our wake a path of ignorant distraction is left. The poem eventually morphed into two different poems, one of which I am sharing today.

This poem is about the effects of silencing emotions and keeping our feelings inside. Men are taught this by fathers who were taught this from their fathers. I will not speculate on the reasons-psychology is doing an okay job with this, right now. I will say, growing up like this -and never seeing my own father cry- has made it incredibly difficult (even emotionally dangerous) for me to cry in front of anyone else. Which is a tragedy, as a highly sensitive person I feel much of everything around me and not always having the comfort of my own tears is a challenge. My hope is that through sharing my own experiences other men will have the courage to not only share their experience but face their inner self.

When Silence is the Creed

The indelible words of a wounded man,

Be tough! Men don’t cry! Suck it up!

The indelible words of a a wounded man,

That to be you is to ignore your feelings

Existing in this universe as a foreigner

Wanting to be a pet of the conversation-

But lacking understanding of the language.

The indelible words of a wounded man,

Be tough! Men don’t cry! Suck it up!

A child who fell and scraped his knee:

Tough little boys don’t cry-

The father says with wounded pride.

Out to play with friends:

Suck it up! Real men don’t cry!

They tease and bully, repeating the fathers words.

Teaching, silence is the creed.

How many tears fall in the cold dark of night-

None to hold you in a comforting embrace-

To hear you tell of your grief,

And in that moment, all your suffering release.

Happiness choked by immovable sadness.

Journeying the miracle of life a stoic of emotion.

Thus goes hope, when silence is the creed.

Previous
Previous

Tears of a Poet

Next
Next

I Love, You. E