The Lift Man

In uniform behold me stand,

The lovely lift at my command.

    I press the button: Pop,

And down I go below the town;

The walls rise up as I go down

    And in the basement stop.

For weeks I’ve worked a morning shift

On this old Waygood-Otis lift.

    And goodness, don’t I love

To press the knob that shuts the gate

When customers are shouting ‘Wait!’

    And soar to floors above.

I see them from my iron cage,

Their faces looking up in rage,

    And then I call ‘First floor!’

‘Perfume and ladies’ underwear!

‘No sir, Up only. Use the stair.’

    And up again we soar.

The second floor for kiddie goods,

And kiddie-pantz and pixie-hoods,

    The third floor, restaurant:

And here the people always try

To find one going down, so I

    Am not the lift they want.

On the roof-garden floor alone

I wait for ages on my own

    High, high above the crowds.

O let them rage and let them ring,

For I am out of everything,

    Alone among the clouds.

 

[In 1956 John Betjeman wrote these lines, anonymously, for the late Gerard Hoffnung to recite.]