The strongest woman that I ever knew
was born thirty-four years ago,
to loving parents who doted on her,
told her of the great places she’d know.
She was popular all through high school,
never failed to pull down straight A’s,
was taught to be strong, and never take crap,
a path for women she would blaze.
She had not a head for the hard sciences,
but in business she quickly excelled,
got her MBA from the finest of schools,
a master of finance, and of what sells.
Moving to the city, she got a good job
and proclaimed one day she would be in charge,
she brought in accounts all through her twenties
and was rewarded with a salary large.
She shot up the ranks, quickly at first,
found herself in the office by my desk,
though we were in different departments
it was clear, she was one of our best.
But when she turned thirty she seemed to slow,
though she stood by her stated goals,
and every so often I’d find her staring
distractedly out of her office window.
All of it charged starting one fall day
when she went up for a big promotion,
but her numbers were down, and it went to
a workaholic named Danny Bagosian.
This spurred her on to work overtime,
by coincidence I was doing the same,
alone in the office we got to talking,
what she asked me nearly fried my brain.
She said,”I’m here sixty hours a week,
I’ve no time left for relationships,
and though this may sound inappropriate
I want to ask your opinion on this.
“I could use a friend-with-benefits
to relieve stress and have some fun,
you’re a handsome fellow and it has been
three years since I have had one.”
Now I suppose the right thing to do
would be to run down to H.R.
But a woman like this has a way with men,
and I said,”I’m game if you are.”
So began a secret and torrid affair
that no man could ever forget,
in hotel rooms and there in her office…
let’s just say that I have no regrets.
But as the months went on something did grow
as often happens with ‘benefits-friends,’
at some point we dropped the charade,
no longer willing to pretend.
And in her I sensed something new,
a sadness I’d not before seen,
it came out into the open late a night
when she woke me from a restless sleep.
She said,”I need to talk about something,
that for a long while has bothered me.
For the first time in all of my life,
I do not know what I should be.
“For so long I had it all laid out,
I ‘understood’ the point of all this.
I would be a success, dominate the field,
live out the dreams of feminists.
“But losing that promotion has left me
feeling uncertain, and rather unsteady.
Begosian works eighty hours a week,
and I’m stretched too thin already.
“And I keep thinking of what it will bring,
will that extra cash bring something I’ve not?
I’m already worth seven figures,
what I need, I have already got.
“And sometimes at work I find myself
looking down out that great big window,
at a young mother and her three-year-old,
holding hands as they go for a stroll.
“I never imagined that I would want that,
and I can’t help but feel that I would betray
the people before me who paved the path
Were I to just up and walk away.”
I though for a moment, gave her a smile,
and said,”I think there’s more that that.
Are you living your life as you would like too
or are you just wearing a mask?
“I thought myself of executive pay
but then I looked deep at the costs,
Danny Bagosian has never had a wife,
his whole life has been profit and loss.
“I suppose for the hyper-competitive sort
that kind of existence is ideal,
but to do endless work for some extra cash…
it strikes me as quite a raw deal.
“I like my own job, but I’ll tell you straight
I much more enjoy my Bluegrass band,
my happiest moments, save those with you,
are when I walk up to that mic stand.
“I’m saying we all get to choose what makes us
feel fulfilled in this life that we live,
for Danny it’s money, power, and prestige,
for the mother it’s her beautiful kid.
“And as for the idea that you have ‘betrayed’
ideologues who like to make noise,
beyond all that stuff is a greater good,
your God-given freedom of choice.
“You are a strong person, strongest I know,
and I’ll love you no matter what you choose,
but I don’t think life can be what others demand,
your life must be driven by you.”
She nodded in thought, then said to me:
“I have to go, I- I need to think.
She dressed and kissed me, walking out
Saying,”Thank you, dear, for everything.”
For some time I worried after she left,
cause she truly did need a good while,
but now that strong woman smiles at me every morn
and is pregnant with our first child.