I had been taught to never cry
and I stood there as the water dripped from my face
pools of it building up on the floor below
a painful sensation in the heart
wrenching in my gut
and then I realized
that by teaching me not to cry
they had given me the most powerful tears of all.
By Mikial
Copyright Oct 2013
All rights reserved.
I Am Whatever I Choose To Become 
Organic & Fresh.
Thank you very much. =)
Beautiful way of looking at that. Tears not cried always come out one day and it is beautiful to release them to be freer from pain. Take care. Sincerely, Connie Webb
Hi Mikail. Thank yo for liking my poem ‘ The Seven! ‘ Best Whishes The foureyed Poet.
No problem my friend, I truly enjoyed your poem and look forward to reading more of your work. All the best to you.
I like the way that you have drawn something positive from a negative early experience – nicely written.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your words. =)
Thanks for the like Mikail on my poem “What are you looking at?” I really enjoyed your poem here. Look forward to reading more
Nicely written, very moving.
Thank you =) I really appreciate you commenting.
THankz for liking my posts….blessings to u.
Its not problem, I enjoy the quality of your work. Have a great night & take care.
Unshed tears dam up until they break free and flood in freeing waters. I’ve never understood why people tell men they shouldn’t cry. It would be a sad waste of tear ducts if they didn’t. Your poem touches the heart.
Thank you very much for the comment. =) I am happy the poem brought contemplation as well as had an impact. I hope to hear from you again in future posts.
tear is the natural tool for catharsis. we should cry, and bathe in tears at times. š
This is very true. Thank you for such an introspective comment my friend. I hope to hear more from you in future posts.
i live in korea, usa, where men are only supposed to cry three times in their lives: once at birth, and once at the funerals of both of their parents (if they die simultaneously, i guess the son is only allowed to cry twice–sort of like having your birthday on christmas day). my life has become too subsumed by low-level depression for me to cry anymore, although i did make an exception the other day when one of my students gave a quiet, powerful, understated speech about her mother’s death from cancer. it felt good, and i remembered i should do it more often. laughter is also therapeutic–an orgasm for your lungs, if you’ll allow the analogy. thanks for liking my latest post. i look forward to reading more of your work. and apologies for the long-winded comment. i’m an incorrigible bloviator, i’m afraid.
I enjoyed reading your long response, you expressed your feelings and experience well and I found them very interesting. I grew as a child in an enviornment and family that is very Macho. Most of the men of my family were part of the military and my father was a boxer and martial artist. Crying was seen as a sign of weakness and not manly. I’ve never cried much due to my dad training me not to, it wasn’t until in my teenage years when my mother and father split apart that my emotions went wild and I could not contain my tears as I watched our family structure disintegrate , that was very difficult for me. However I feel that although It is very hard for me to cry because of the psychological blocks I have from my dad training me to not cry it is very liberating to do so when it happens. Thank you for such a great response my friend and I have now also been long- winded. Have a great day and hope to hear from you again in future posts.
I was brought up to be strong, I remember few tears, so your poem struck a chord with me. Thanks for visiting my Spanish blog, you might like my writing blog too at http://www.sandradanby.com/ SD
Sick Poem!
Respect!
Thank you, I always love to read your comments, they are very to the point and packed with excitement. Take care and hope to hear from you again soon.
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thank you for sharing such moving words
Thank you for commenting. =) Have a great night my friend.
Really nice piece
Thank you.
My pleasure
There is no shame in tears, Mikial. Glad you are allowing yourself to feel your emotions. There is actually scientific evidence that tears flush out accumulated stress hormones from the body and thereby help return us to a chemical (and therefore emotional) equilibrium.
The military environment has its own testosterone-ridden codes. Maybe they work for combat situations but they certainly don’t do much good when guys get back home and don’t know how to deal with their PTSD and other emotional/neurological/spiritual issues resulting from their time in the service.
Thank you Annette for your kind words as well as the information you have provided. It is my hope that individuals who share a background such as mine are able to overcome the mental/social barriers that have brought them to an imbalance in emotions so they may come back into equilibrium as you have said. I am thankful & happy to know that people such as yourself are out there working to help others with their spiritual/mental & physical health. I am hoping that my work will help others as well. Take care kind friend & thank you.
It’s never easy to break the mould (as I suspect you did within your family and wider circle). But the price we pay for not being our true, authentic self is often much higher than the price we pay for being different from our family/social group.
Nice poem, Mikail. Thank you for sharing. Blessings and love to you.
Thank you for your comment. May you always find peace and tranquility.
Really like this. Actually feeling inspired to write about an experience I had at the airport recently- the dad spoke similar words regarding not crying and not being afraid to his young son… Broke my heart and took some restraint not to intervene! Lol. You guys have it hard in that department. Thanks for visiting my blog and for the inspiration!
I hope the young Lad you encountered at the airport will one day be ok with expressing himself freely. You are a compassionate person which I can tell by how much your care, it really comes through your words. Have a great weekend journey in rhyme and I hope to hear from you again in a future time.
Thank you for your kind words. You likewise!
I enjoyed this it succinctly expresses the emotion needed.
Thank you Yolanda, I greatly appreciate your comment.
I really enjoyed this poem. I had a conversation today with my mother regarding our lack of being able to cry. We find it strange because women usually don’t have a problem crying. I read a post I wrote March 2013 titled “When Tears Won’t Flow.” She was moved by it, as I was of yours. Blessings.
Thank you my friend, it is an honor to share such things through my poetry with wonderful individuals such as yourself. I often like to create beautiful poetry that helps the mind fly away to other places but I also equally enjoy sharing heartfelt poetry that is rooted in a reality. I hope you have an amazing week and thank you once again for commenting.
Thank you. Mind does fly and I want to go higher in this spiral of creative minds. Blessings. Your words are moving.
Thank you for reading my poetry. Your Luminous Tears and accompanying responses inspire me to write of my father’s tears in front of me, age eight, and his drunken wife — my stepmother — and how I held onto my father as tightly as I could because I felt so bad for him. I have since had a very troubled relationship with him and when he died over two years ago I found complete relief, but that memory of the tears has remained with me forever.