DEAR MEN

Dear men,
Do not be afraid to love.
Do not be afraid to take
a woman in your arms
and to show her the gentility
that comes by instinct.
To show the steady hand
that comes out
when you reach for a child.
To ignore the social messages to be manly;
when manly means to be
unreliable, disreputable, and uncouth.
To leave your child behind,
to leave your woman heartbroken,
or to cheat on her and come back.
Don't do any of that.
Listen to the other words about men.
The ones that echo
in the lockers of your mind
and are whispered in the world:
That men are strong,
men are protective,
men are reliable,
men are – dare I say it?
Sexually attractive, too.
Men strive
to be upstanding.
To be anything else,
is not a man.