WEBVTT

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I have two more poems.

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This is a "Commencement Speech
Delivered at the Buncombe County

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Institute of
Elevator Inspectors."

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[LAUGHTER]

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Lately, I've been thinking about
things lifted into the sky.

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Szymborska gets lung cancer
and is whisked into the clouds.

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Muhammad Ali floats the
way he always said he would

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But this time doesn't
return to the ground.

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Stephen Hawking shuts his eyes

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And merges with one
of the black holes

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he so adored while on Earth.

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Each year this is more frequent.

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David Bowie, Toni Morrison,
Stan Lee, onto the platform.

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The doors close, up they go.

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Meteor showers, sun
halos, occultations.

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There have been others less
publicized, less luminous

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figures,

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But absences I feel nonetheless.

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I've been told they're
up there as well:

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My uncle, my mother-in-law,
Blair, Jason, Stephanie, Chris,

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Dark matter, moon dust,
haze across the firmament.

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The work behind the
scenes to get them

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from down here to up there
is invisible and precise.

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As elevator inspectors, you
must examine the endless chain,

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the lifting drum, the tension
pulley, the counterweight,

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Double and triple check the
sling, the governor, the buffer,

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the sheave.

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Ascension is harrowing,
grief is heavy.

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The hoist cable
must never waver.

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It must bear the unbearable.

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Your vocation is
difficult and unglamorous.

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I commend you upon your
arrival at this threshold.

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Next week I'll go
into the hospital

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to have a minor procedure,

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A routine surgery to remove
a small area of concern.

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I'll walk through two double
doors, press a button,

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And if all goes well, go
up and then come back down.

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I have no idea how this
operation will unfold.

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I'm full of doubt, rockslides,
and falling blackbirds.

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But I continue because I
believe that you have faithfully

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scrutinized the guide rail,
the load sensor, the limiter.

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When any of us step
into an elevator

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We know the shaft around
the car is just emptiness,

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A stillness overhead, a
breeze swept, darkness,

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everything motionless, quiet.

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Then far above, some sleek
engine begins to whir.

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Its wheel begins to turn.

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[APPLAUSE]

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