The wizard says It’s not so hard
is it?
You can choose to stay
as you are
in your safe
curated existence
or
you can step through the door
and see
what lies on the other side.

The sage looks you over
and adds It’s really just a calculation.
Look over the ledger of your life
and decide.
Is what you have right now
satisfying enough to maintain?
Do you like the world
you already live in
or is that you’re scared
of the danger
on the other side
of that oak and steel?

Is it the darkness that frightens you
the seer ponders,
The possibility
or just that chance
that difference might be uncomfortable?
Do you know
what is stopping you
from making the choice?

The professor chuckles kindly.
No one else needs to be involved
in this conclusion
but you.
But you
do
have to choose.
It is here
or there
and the door divides them.

He smiles the tiger’s smile.
Well…?

The outcome is never truly in doubt.