Written by Shayan Shah
Poem on Men’s repressed emotions by Shayan Shah:
The Strongest Man
There he is,
The strongest man,
The man of steel,
The Shah.
They say he built a whole village.
such a strong man.
with his bare hands!
The strongest man.
What nobody knows,
was what he’d seen,
death after death,
as brother after brother,
fell before his teary eyes.
Teary eyes that were forced,
Time and again to hold back,
Tsunamis of pain, Typhoons of disdain.
Disdain for the world that took from him,
his need to weep,
Disdain for himself,
for Father said tears made him weak.
Let me take you,
to a time long ago,
when the strongest man,
was but just a little angel,
who yearned to cry,
as much as he yearned to laugh,
who needed to be held in anger,
as much as he needs to be held with love.
One day, the strongest man
watched his younger brother
get swept away by the falling boulders,
gobbled up by the unforgiving stream,
Never to be seen.
one moment his beloved
Stood before his joyous eyes.
Stood in a heavenly land
Surrounded by a ring of godly mountains,
green pastures to the side,
the promised river full of milk and honey,
gushed and meandered through the land of the gods.
The next moment his beloved
was out of sight, as if he never was,
now he stood surrounded by
demons that towered,
laughing at his fate,
celebrated their loot,
mocked the little angel,
and the love and life he had lost.
A blazing flame arose
where the once milky river flowed,
He dared to let go of all he was taught,
allowed his body to release,
A scream so loud
That would shake the demons to their core,
A scream of fear and agony
deserving of the loss of his beloved
full of pain, full of disdain
Does this sound like a strong man?
“Shush! How dare you weep?!”
don’t be such a girl,
Be a man! Be a strong man!
Be the strongest man!
The strongest man
That does not shed a tear!”
“Never again will I shed a tear!
Never Again!
I am the strongest man!”
The Strongest Man
“I visited my paternal home, a tiny village called Raminji, perched on a 3000m tall mountain, after a long 18 years. The trip was long overdue for more than one reason. I connected with my family, my land and my deceased ancestors. This poem came to me after I returned to Hong Kong and started connecting deeper with my grandfather, Mehboob Shah, “The Strongest Man”. This poem is not just about him, it’s about all men, all of the “strong” men. It’s about time we learned to cry and “be like girls”.
