Cry

By Naima Yetunde Hammonds

The silence can be deafening.

Feelings of despair,

Hopelessness—

And no one is there.

The storehouse of tears

Sometimes stays inside,

Masked for appearance’s sake—

Trying to survive.

I travel often,

To distant places in my mind,

Scrolling through destinations

That might soothe this reality.

Because after a while,

It takes a toll.

Cry can wash you,

Like taking your soul to the ocean,

Bathed in water,

Close to nature,

Close to Yemeya.

I often abandon faith

When I’m consumed.

Not that I don’t believe—

But prayer feels hard

When you have nothing to say.

A fire burns inside

That needs to be put out.

The pain, the violence,

Can be too much to bear.

No one hears your cry.

No one is there.

And tears don’t douse the flames—

They feed them.

I don’t like being embarrassed by my tears.

Because, truthfully—

Nobody really cares.

Cry.

Cry.

Cry—

When there’s nowhere else to go.

For some, it’s release—

A cleansing,

A loosening of the knot in your throat.

Cry,

Simply because

There is nowhere else to go.

Happy Mental Health Awareness Month.

Hug someone today—

You never know what someone is battling,

What they’re going through.

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Leave a comment, send it to someone who might need it, or simply sit with it.

Let “Cry” remind you that feeling deeply is not weakness—it’s human.

Read the full poem on the blog. Let’s keep the conversation around mental health alive.