let me cry

(A plea for men to unshackle the chains society binds them with) Let me cry, for my tears hold no shame, In this world that demands I hide my pain. They say, "Be a man, be stoic, be strong," But how can I when the weight feels so wrong? They teach us to mask, to bury, to fight, To wrestle with shadows in the dead of night. "Handle it," they say, but where is the cure? Why must my silence be my only armor? How can I be stronger than feelings that scream, That haunt my soul, disrupt my dream? Each tear unshed is a storm in my chest, A plea unspoken, a heart suppressed. I am human, flesh and bone, Not a fortress of steel, not carved from stone. Yet they tell me to stand, unshaken, unscarred, But scars run deep when hearts are barred. Let me cry, for it is not defeat, It is healing, it is life, it is bittersweet. For tears are not weakness; they’re rivers that cleanse, Washing away what the silence defends. So hear my plea, and see me whole, A man with tears, a man with a soul. For strength is not in the mask we wear, But in the courage to show we care.