Taught by dad to never cry, I never asked, but wondered why
Sadness and pain I always kept inside of me, I never wept
Push the pain down deep inside, if you can’t you’d better hide
I knew that if the tears began, I would never be a man
The ocean, cancer, and a tree took teenage friends from me
An aunt, an uncle, far too soon, yet no emotion, I was immune
My dangerous job, lost many a friend. That pent up pain just wouldn’t end
Then came the day that couldn’t be, we lost three hundred forty-three
We said goodbyes day by day, my eyes bone dry as I would pray
The day I longed for finally came, an unknown stranger absolved my pain
Off to a funeral I stopped for tea but the man behind said “It’s on me”
He shook my hand and said thank you for all the things you brave men do
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, I barely stood with legs now weak
Into my car but I couldn’t go, rivers of tears did now flow
Inside that car I know I cried for all the people I knew that died
A simple act is all it took, a simple act, a sincere look
To break the chains of forty years of an inability to shed some tears
It took forty years to understand that I can cry and be a man