Boys don't cry--Do They?
By
Jude Kyrie


You must know this  before I begin.
I was only  a teenage boy back then.
I was definitely not a safe place
to be called home.
She was even younger than I was.
We were not just ready—
for---marriage or anything close to it.
Since that long ago day
I have always wanted a daughter.
I know she will never come.
It is my burden--My fault.

I sat in the beat up old car
In the car park of the clinic.
Whilst she went through ---with ----it.
I am a man's man.
I never cry ever.
But the tears flowed then
down my young face relentlessly.
My breath was spent from sobbing.
I could not stop the tears.
I know now I should not
have tried to stop them.
For I was in mourning
for the daughter
I want so badly now.

On quiet summer days
when the lake shimmers
in the bright sunlight.
I see a young teenage girl
nubile and innocent.
swimming in the
calm waters of the lake
.
And for a moment
my eyes once more
fill with those long ago tears.