On a Woman Sitting Down

She was just one more woman,

sick and tired

on another tiresome day

of being told

what to do,

who to be.

That Rosa.

Does she know how funny it is

that she took a stand

by sitting down?

Not funny in a “haha” kind of way,

but funny,

in the way

tired women rising

can look

simple

and

ordinary,

all the while

galvanizing nations

and making history.

That’s the part of

her story I hold onto

most as a woman,

not the fact

that she, a black woman

in the 1950’s sat down

in the front

of a segregated bus, but

how sometimes

choosing

the right and ordinary thing

can take

the resolve of mountain movers

and the courage

of aging women.