Day Eighteen

Today's words:

Courage

Skirt

Promotion

Lighthouse

Exile

Headline

Back in the day it took courage

To put on a skirt

Every morning and go fight amongst the boys for that promotion

Always looking for the lighthouse

Of safety and avoiding the exile

That befell many of us. We wanted to headline

A team, not wind up a tabloid headline.

But who today has that courage?

Not that it's needed any more. You won't be sent to exile

For wearing a skirt

And the lighthouse

Is easy to spot; your promotion

Is assured. I remember when a promotion

Like that got you a headline:

"Female exec reaches lighthouse"

Because none of the boys had that courage.

But they didn't need it. They'd never worn a skirt

Or faced exile

For breaking with tradition. And now I'm in exile

For not going after that promotion.

I guess I didn't want it enough. Let's not skirt

The issue. I didn't seek a headline

Like that. Maybe I lacked courage

But I prefer to believe my lighthouse

Was on another shore. That lighthouse

A beacon, calling me in from that exile

Of pretend courage

And fighting with the boys over a promotion

I didn't really care about anyway. There's your headline:

"Exec in skirt

"Walks away" That's right. I gathered up my skirt

And climbed to the top of the lighthouse

Watching the headline

Of the sea, where the others, striving to return from exile,

Wrecked themselves grappling for a meaningless promotion.

I'd call mine a different type of courage.

Just as wearing a skirt can be a form of exile

So can a false lighthouse seem to lead to a promotion

That really isn't one. Leaving a one-word headline: "Courage!"