Introduction to Manhood

Son…

Wipe your face

because men don’t cry

 

No! They don’t waste tears over spilled milk.

Cause as boys they drank tall glasses of promises from they mothers

Until it dissolved into their bones

And they grew tall,

 

They did all…the things little boys would do

From learning to stand & pee, to sneaking a peek and scraping their knees

But it didn’t stop them from bowing down to their knees

Saying prayers to bless them selves before they went to sleep…

At least one day they woke up as men…

 

But never did it happen in one day

It takes years and experience

To feel and experience a transition

that you can only get from actually living…

Because if life was so easy

Hell maybe a cave man could’ve did it…

But they didn’t…

Gieco can’t give boys life assurance to ensure them

They wouldn’t make any mistakes or have any accidents

 

All men are not dogs

A good man is hard to find

But a hard man is good to find …

 

Men adapt to life

Because adversity, anger, and pain exert pounds of pressure

Into a core of ambition and achievement

Enough until it spontaneously compresses into die-MANS,

Where the value is priceless…

You can’t retail loyalty & integrity,

For a man’s appetite

It’s a delicacy

After facing defeat and tasting victory

It gets monotonous for a man to keep biting the bullet & swallowing his pride

 

Deuteronomy 8: verse 2-3,

A man doesn’t live by bread alone,

But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live,

Giving him protein and strength

So his focus is strong enough for his eye lids to catch his tears…

 

Men have accepted forbidden fruits from the possessors of they ribs

But don’t keep grudges they forgive

And they leave their mother’s house of Eden

Carrying the community on their backs

Because the village needs them

To be active in the process of raising children

 

They just aren’t daddies

but fathers

They tell and repeat to their daughters

They are princesses

Who are in possession

Of something that’s special

“Doesn’t she know she has something in her that’s special”

“Baby girl you have something in you that’s special…”

And they suck out the poison that their sons encounter

And manufacture antivenin

Giving them the resistance against serpents

 

Philosophically…a man thinks therefore he is

But thinking you’re a man doesn’t make you a man

and having something strong enough for a man but made for a woman won’t make you a man,

Having heart makes you a man…

 

Men live in the hearts of slaves, kings, soldiers, revolutionaries, judges, rebels, dreamers, thieves, and women

Yeah that’s right son,

Men exist in the hearts of women…

 

Because behind each great man

There was a woman…

And only could she

Be there to see what he

Seen as he carried a crucifix with thieves and collected wounds

And even though he didn’t know you from Adam

This man came from death and died again

All for the sins of man

 

 

I’m not a righteous man or better than

I’m just trying to be as equal as the better man…

A man can know limitations but accepting them

Won’t give a man freedom…

 

Some men won’t be free

Because they are political prisoners

And some are correctional officers

And some men are politicians

But they are firstly individuals and not men in general…

 

Men have went to jail, read books, got a GED, did 583

Push ups on their fists

While they bleed

For 24/7

365 days

While serving a 5 to 10 year sentence

With a possibility of parole after 3

Gotten free and joined the nation of Islam

Went to Mecca and came back home a man

 

Man!!!!!! Does it feel good to see those men

 

Your race doesn’t make you a man

Because there were men who were called ‘boy’ in the south

Who worked & toiled

Over crops and soil

And planted seeds that grew up looking like Booker T, H. Rap Brown, & Derrick Henry… and John Henry

 

Was a myth

That represented man’s will & dedication

To finish what he started

That’s why Haitians

Are free

because a revolt became a revolution

the beginning becomes the ending

I’m not done being a man

But we know the conclusion…

 

never run & hide

retreat to live and fight another day

die fighting for what you truly believe in

Rather it be willingly or defensively

 

Men don’t want reparations

Men want retribution

and we are suppose to be created equally under the constitution

So light skin, mulatto, Jewish, Muslim, Asian, Hispanic, black & Caucasian

Have all faced temptation but felt admiration in their own way…

 

Rather they were suicide bombers & kamikazes

Soldiers of valor

Freedom fighters

The police

Or tribesman

They were men who died for their honor…

 

You can hit 21 years of age

 Shoot at a gun range

Go to grown folks clubs

See exotic dancers

And have three bar mitzvahs

But that doesn’t make you a man

 

You have to lose to know what winning is

Make choices to know what independence is

Carry a little bit of pain to know what pleasure is…

You have to raise a little hell, to know what control is

Walk a little blind to know when you are focused

Make mistakes so you know not to do it again

 

What I mean is…

You can’t be the champ on your first punch

A man’s purpose

Is to meet his potential and fulfill his worth

And it’s essential

A man works at it until it’s perfect

But until you get there

It’s going to be whole lot of working

 

But just keep wiping your eyes

Cause sometimes

It’s ok for a man to cry