Exit

After teaching a class in a large, white tent
for several weeks, one morning I noticed
a sign affixed to the flapping eaves: EXIT.

The thing is, this was an open-sided tent,
with no walls. We could look out on the spreading lawn
in every direction, come and go wherever we liked.

Yet there was the sign, proclaiming the one
and narrow way. Au contraire, I wanted to say. 
The nearest exit is all around you.