Be Strong is What They Told You

You grew up in a world

Where strength

Was glorified as toughness,

Cultivating a brokenness masked

By stoic resilience-

Void of emotion.

Because no one danced on eggshells for you

And falling apart was never an alternate route

Not a temporary speed-bump

On this road you called a life,

A road paved over insecurities

Fissures underneath eternal masks

You carried upon a stone cold visage.

For feeling was a worse sin than lying

And crying an offense worthy of condemnation

Crying connotative of weakness

Tears removed the toughness that made you “strong.”