Tears of a Man

At a party last night my friends gathered to mark a dual celebration of Christmas and Birthday of a dear vulnerable man with the heart of a lion who sheds tears like the falling rain. I loved the transparency of his emotion and instead of erasing the tracks of his tears they made their way down the creases in his strong countenance like a winding river.  I thought here was a man who found his balance between his anima and animus and the lucky woman at his side watched in love feeling both his tenacity and tenderness. 

In my drinking life I had often felt the urge of my lachrymal glands but I would always stifle them thinking I had lost some of my masculinity but it was only regret that I was experiencing not true emotion.  That’s how dysfunctional my drinking life was oblivious while intoxicated and filled with regret and empty promises of a sober lifestyle.  I don’t miss drinking only the unlived life it kept me from.