Men Don't Cry

Men don't cry. So I destroyed my liver;

Each drink a desperate act of forgetting,

The whiskey glass empty, like my heart,

Until numbness replaced the hurting.

Men don't cry. So I destroyed my lungs,

Made them a temple of smoke and ash,

Each exhale carrying unspoken words,

The stories I was never meant to tell.

Men don't cry. So I turned to poison,

Found solace in artificial bliss,

Chemical embraces in the dark

When human touch seemed too much to ask.

Men don't cry. This is what they preached,

Be strong, be silent, swallow your pain.

Weakness is for lesser men, they said,

As if tears could wash away our worth.

So we found different ways to bleed,

Through needles, bottles, reckless speed.

Dancing with death seemed easier somehow

Than letting one tear escape and fall.

They never told us tears could heal,

That strength lies in what we dare to feel.

Instead, we learned to self-destruct,

Because real men don't cry, they break.

Starlit Echos

Each heartbeat drums a rhythm now

That matches ripples on the lake,

Where memories float like phantom lights

Across the waters in their wake.

Our wooden raft, weather-worn and wise,

Cradles us in its gentle sway,

While darkness wraps around us both

Like velvet at the close of day.

The loons cry out their mournful song

A primal echo of my yearning,

While spring peepers weave silver notes

Through reeds where fireflies are burning.

Your face—oh god, your precious face

Holds stories written in starlight,

Each feature sculpted by the dark,

Then gilded by the cosmic night.

I watch the Milky Way reflect

Within your eyes of midnight blue,

While shooting stars streak overhead

As if they’re falling just for you.

The air tastes sweet with pine and mint,

Night-blooming flowers scent the breeze,

Our fingers touch like questions asked

Beneath the watching pine trees.

Such perfect silence fills the space

Between each breath we dare to take,

While time stands still and hearts beat loud

Across the mirror of the lake.

Now years have passed, yet still I feel

The wooden planks beneath my palm,

Still hear your whispered wonderings

Float upward through that sacred calm.

My heart—it aches with such sweet pain,

Each pulse a tide that draws me back

To that dark night upon Star Lake

Where love blazed bright against the black.

These memories burn like northern lights,

Too fierce and precious to forget

The night that nature held its breath

To watch our souls in starlight met.

I’d trade a thousand tomorrows

To drift once more upon that sea,

Where universe and heart were one,

And you were there to share with me.

Star Lake Reverie

Adrift in darkness absolute,

Save for the heaven’s scattered light

That catches in your eyes and weaves

A constellation new tonight.

The loons’ wild song across the waves

Mingles with peepers’ evening choir,

While gentle ripples meet our raft

Like whispers of shared desire.

Your face, moon-kissed and starlight-blessed,

Glows softer than the Milky Way

A beacon in this perfect dark

That makes me wish that time would stay.

Words falter, fail, and float away

Like leaves upon the mirrored lake.

This moment burns within my soul:

A flame that time can never take.

The universe spreads out above,

Below, around—yet all I see

Is how the starlight frames your smile,

This perfect night, just you and me.

Some memories fade like morning mist,

But this one’s etched in silver-bright

Your radiance amid the stars,

Our hearts as one upon that night.

Midsummer’s Spell

Time dissolves like sugar in the dark,

Each hour sweeter than the last,

As words flow soft as summer wind

Till neither future lives nor past.

The night air wraps around us warm,

July’s breath honey-thick and sweet,

While crickets keep their gentle time

To match our hearts’ sustained beat.

Your hair, caught in the starlight’s grace,

Releases hints of summer rain,

Of wildflowers drunk with sun,

Of secrets I can’t quite explain.

Beneath the wheeling summer stars,

Each word between us floats and weaves

Like fireflies that dance and drift

Through shadows of the willow leaves.

Your laughter ripples cross the lake,

A sound more precious than the loons,

While stories spill like scattered stars

Through endless summer afternoons.

The warmth of you pressed close to me

Outshines the summer’s fevered heat

Your arms, a haven I have found

Where heaven and earth so softly meet.

I breathe you in like evening air:

Sweet clover, moss, and something more—

A scent that speaks of summer dreams

I’ve never dared to dream before.

Hours pass like shooting stars,

Too swift, too bright, too dear to hold,

Yet each moment burns deeper still

Than any story ever told.

Your head rests gentle on my chest,

Hair spilling silk across my skin,

While conversation ebbs and flows

Like waves that pull the moonlight in.

If I could bottle up this night

This essence of a summer’s dream:

Your warmth, your scent, your midnight voice,

The way our quiet words stream

I’d wear it like a talisman

Against the winters yet to come,

To bring me back to this still night

Where two hearts beat as one.

For in the heat of summer’s peak,

With stars strewn thick as heaven’s lace,

I found my world could all exist

Within your warm embrace.