today marks
the seventeenth time
I've changed a tire
by myself
including the nearly
five foot high one
on the tractor at the farm
there was a day
when no woman
would ever be in this place
a man would always
be at her aid
there was a time
when a woman
didn't need to carry a weapon
or know how to be one
she was defended and respected
there was an age
when a woman's tears fell
a man would hold her
and wipe them away
in many ways I'm glad
for my independence
in many ways I am very proud
of this seventeenth time
but in many more ways
I dread the eighteenth
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