PROLOGUE BY THE ELEVATOR BOY
You see me as the elevator boy,
But the actuality of my position is ephemeral;
In a year I shall receive a degree in medicine
And go.
Meanwhile I study the colossal symbol of a human being
In this pile of masonry
That sanctions the ugly
In ornament, in smiles, in sex.
I hear a human anger in my signal bell.
The shaft down which the elevator slides
Is the spine to keep the system together;
And the corridors are nerves that link each room
As heart and brain that strive in secret.
Am I responsible to have said it?
Or responsible only so far as I have seen the scheme unfairly?
Abnormal and abortive matter
Tighten the leash on truth.
To deceive is to establish an enemy—
Which brings me to the theme
That scars and shadows Jevons Block.
12
