FOUR ELEVATORS
Doubt-elevator never works.
Fear-elevator seldom works.
Confidence-elevator occasionally works.
Aspiration-elevator sleeplessly works.
(527)
Through progressive contrast, the poem arrives at an understanding of the ceaseless power of aspiration. The pressure of the undisclosed final answer acts like a riddle to increase the sense of discovery that is implicit in the last line. It is interesting to note the construction of riddles such as this. The poet establishes a pattern in which a spiritual quality is described in terms of a fixed metaphor: an elevator. Re-arranged, the riddle would read: What is the elevator that always works? Each sentence within the poem poses a similar question in connection with the steady improvement of the “elevator.”
Although the answer to each question is coterminous with the actual posing of the question itself, each line forecasts the next, creating a flow of meaning. The ultimate “answer” resolves the riddle of the poem. In other poems the reader’s active participation is engaged by a formal question and answer format:
A CAGED SUCCESS
What does a desire-life get?
A caged success.
What does an aspiration-life become?
An uncaged progress.
(350)
The poet dovetails his two answers together to show the interrelationship of desire and aspiration. A master of economy, he is able to indicate the strong contrast between the outer life of success and the inner life of progress using only the single pictorial image of a cage.
At times the poet angles his questions specifically towards the reader, “blocking” their inevitable answers so that they may be supplied by the reader from within the context of his own experience:
HOW CAN YOU SUCCEED?
How can you succeed
With your heart’s superficial
Aspiration-flames?
How can you?
How can you proceed
With your life’s artificial
Dedication-drops?
How can you?
(3579)
These are powerful warnings disguised as questions. Mere answers are not enough; what is required is a complete renewal of the spiritual life. If the reader admits the relevancy of the questions, then he must also admit the necessity for change. The poem strikes home when it becomes the agent of transformation.