Not one to beat about the bush, this poem is short and sweet. I think this just about sums life up. It all comes down (or up) to lifts. Lifts going up and lifts going down. Then there’s the escalators: some fast moving, some moving at a snails pace: some stuck, some static, waiting for repair – ‘Out of order’ , under maintenance. But, back to lifts, the vehicles which carry us;-
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, (b.1826-1902) tells an interesting story about seeing a ghost who saves his life. Late at night, he sees a coffin being carried by a man crossing the garden of the house he is staying at. The man looks directly at Dufferin. The next morning his hostess tells him that the next time he will see that man will be just before his death. Dufferin then goes on to see the man years later as a lift operator in a Paris hotel and refuses to get into the lift with the other people. Seconds later the lift crashes, killing all the passengers. This story has been investigated and been proved an urban legend passed off as Dufferin ‘s personal anecdote.
A variation of this story can be seen in (The Hearse Driver) from the 1945 Horror film Dead of Night . This time instead of the man carrying the coffin, the story features a horse drawn hearse filled with people. The ghostly driver calls out to the girl ‘There’s room for one more’ Terrified, the girl runs away. Later she goes out shopping to soothe her fears and to stop worrying about the encounter. But in the department store, the ghostly driver has now transformed into a lift operator, beckoning the girl to the already crowded lift. ‘Room for one more’ he cries, before dispatching the lift full of people (except the girl) to their deaths.
My Life in Lifts
I was born with a yawn
I was lifted
Time had shifted
I yelled out at the light
Alright?
My life in lifts.
I was dead in my bed
Laid out
My life had played out
There was no doubt
My life in lifts.
Lynda M Roberts ©
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Lift image here
https://www.scaredstiffreviews.com/dead-of-night-1945-%E2%80%93horror-anthology-review/
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