When Elevators Were Given the Gift of Speech

Mack Hall, HSG
mhall46184@aol.com

When Elevators Were Given the Gift of Speech

In the Psychology Building at Texas A & M

Elevators shouldn’t be talking at all

But they insist on announcing the floor
And whether they (and their meek passengers)
Are going up or going down. 

                                          One hopes

To hear a revolutionary lift
Someday proclaim a wild manifesto:
“Comrades!  Today we are moving sideways!”

But no.  Good, passive citizens they are,

Neither voting nor thinking nor daring
They hum and chat their way from floor to floor
Mechanical functionaries of the State
Licensed, certified, inspected, and stamped

Just once, a man responded to the Voice:

“I know I’m going up!” he cried in vain
And he was levitated to a plane
Above the automatic stops of life
Existence we can never understand
And nothing more was ever heard of him

And the elevators chanted the floors

In sublime serenity forever
Of stops and floors and numbers, up and down
Mechanical verticals without end

But

Since they are elevators, couldn’t their speech

Be at least somewhat, well, elevated?