What Is a Man?
Many try to claim the name,
But few can bear the weight.
It isn’t strength, it isn’t fame—
It’s standing tall against your fate.
A woman knows the hour and day
Her child is placed into her hands.
But when does manhood stake its claim?
By birth? By war? By where he stands?
A man takes hold of what is his,
The mess, the toil, the fight.
Not by words or grand displays,
But by doing what is right.
There is no sign, no sacred age,
No book that holds the plan.
No ancient sage can turn a page
And say, “Here—now you’re a man.”
Life will pull, life will tear,
It will test what’s in your chest.
But manhood isn’t given—
It’s proven, when you’re pressed.
Will you rise when others fall?
Will you bear the weight alone?
Will you stand when duty calls,
And make the fight your own?
There was the man from Snowy River,
There are the Men in Black,
But real men rise and deliver,
No hero’s cape upon their back.
A woman’s work is never done,
Each day, she toils and gives.
A man must walk a thankless path,
Yet walk it still—to truly live.
About the Creator
Mark Stigers
One year after my birth sputnik was launched, making me a space child. I did a hitch in the Navy as a electronics tech. I worked for Hughes Aircraft Company for quite a while. I currently live in the Saguaro forest in Tucson Arizona
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