Walt Whitman of the escalators

I am always thankful that the Dupont Circle Metro Station’s Q Street entrance provides the beautifully carved inscription of a Walt Whitman poem about his work in Civil War hospitals. However, if Whitman were alive today, and had to experience the endless breakdowns of escalator service, he might be moved to rewrite his poem:

Thus in silence, no escalator is moving

Climbing, stepping, I thread my way through the crowds,

Metro offers no soothing hand,

I see the struggling  going up and going down — some are so old,

Some have so much luggage — I recall the experience sweet and sad ...