I Can't Cry Enough

I can't cry
I need to
I try
It gets stuck in there in the depths of my grief and rage and confusion
I can't cry
Really cry
A few tears here and there
But not the catharsis that I crave
The clearing that will open new pathways and help me understand
When I was young I never stopped crying
Back then they said "Stop crying!"
"Why are you always crying?!"
"There's nothing for you to cry about!"
Were they unaware of all there is to cry over on this earth?
Or were they just stuck like I am now in the overwhelming feeling that there's nothing to be done?
How can this be?
Were they afraid that if the crying started it would never stop?
Would the tears of generations spill out forever?
Would they never be able to see anything but the suffering?
The Buddha said that suffering is part of it and by fighting the pain, resisting the pain, we increase the pain
I'm all in for feeling it and releasing it and walking through it
I want to be cleansed and clarified in my own grief but the tears will not come and I don't know what to do
How to move forward in a world that is filled with so much hate without the ability to cry for it
To avoid the shame that followed crying in my younger years I grew numb
I medicated
I worked myself to a nub
I kept the tears at bay no matter the cost
They told me there was nothing to cry about and their shame was too much to bear so I chose to believe them and not myself
I chose to believe them and not my open, beautiful heart that felt it all
That sweet, vulnerable heart that KNEW the way things were was NOT OK
I believe myself now and yet the scar tissue that formed to protect my little self from ridicule and shame has hardened and now I'm stuck carrying all the pain with nowhere to send it
Even when I cry, I can't cry enough