The Exit
The Exit is prominent in all of our life events,
The growth of the Spirit
Is a path to an Exit
That opens a new door.
Like the old saying
About teachers appearing when
The student is ready,
The Exit appears,
Quite simply,
When it’s time for us to leave.
We embrace some exits joyfully,
As life transitions, but
There are individuals who try
To delay their passage through
The Exit,
Staying that extra semester,
Signing that next contract,
Walking past the door.
The Exit appears early,
(Or at least the rest of us may
Believe this to be the case),
For some, hastened by positive
And negative energies.
The prodigy reaches the Exit
Of the school,
Sooner than her classmates.
The soldier finds the Exit,
When the explosive device
Detonates too close.
It’s likely we won’t choose
Which Exit we take from
A life event,
A relationship,
A vacation, or,
The bodies our Spirits occupy.
There are emergency Exits
Available to us, along the path
Spirits will make their way to the
Closest Exit
When troubled, seeing no way
To continue on the path.
Sometimes others spot the Spirit
Heading to the emergency Exit
We do what we think is right,
And pull the spirit back to the path
We believe,
Our clergy believe,
Maybe even our gods believe,
Is proper for them.
In spite of our best intentions,
The Spirit doesn’t listen, finding
Another Exit,
Right away.
The Spirit passes through,
Leaving us to ponder
What “went wrong,”
Rather than understanding
The notion that the Spirit needed
To go,
To wait,
To prepare,
For another journey.
©2016 Edward Branley
