“Be A Man”

by Mutwiri Njeru-Baranya.

I watch him wear a brave disguise, 
A smile that masks the truth in his eyes. 
It shines enough to hide the pain, 
That cracks beneath the quiet strain. 

His laugh is light, but echoes deep, 
A sound that barely lets him weep. 
His silence, louder than the crowd, 
A whisper buried in a shroud. 

He speaks of dreams that slipped away, 
Of glory lost along the way. 
The world just shrugs, with no reply: 
“Be a man, for real men don’t cry.”

So he folds his sorrow, neat and tight, 
And hides it far away from sight. 
He walks ahead, no sign, no clue, 
A storm beneath a sky of blue. 

How many more walk just like him, 
With broken hearts that hide behind a grin? 
And still we repeat, not knowing why, 
The words that teach our men to die.