"The Can"

                                      The Can


    I am but a can, empty inside, no purpose to fulfill anymore. I could barely hold up to the pressures that existed inside me. Then you, got me to open up. I gave everything I had to satisfy you. The one who got inside me, took in my sweetness, swallowed my sustenance, and was nourished by my goodness. Why did you toss me aside, without a second thought? Am I nothing more than trash, An embarrassing, ugly, worthless object?. You abandoned me, walked away and never looked back. You left me to be kicked, again and again, time after time, in every direction. I will end up nowhere, back and forth, from one angry gesture to the next. My only hope now is to land in a place out of the way. Away from those intent on using me as an escape for their hostility. Degrading me as a has been that will never be again. It’s lonely where I am.
    Oh! Hey there, Mr. Ant. I’m glad you came by. I could really use someone to talk to.  What’s that you say?  I don’t taste bad,  Well, Thank you!  Huh? I’m too sticky!  I’m a rolling death trap!  Yeah, I understand, I don’t blame you, You took what you needed from me, like everyone else, and still here I am, Nowhere,  Waiting for my next awful experience.
    What’s that feeling?  I’m floating. Hey, I could get used to this. This isn’t half bad, gliding along the gutter, No one wants to hurt me here, Maybe things are starting to look up?  Oh No!…. What is that terrible odor?… Sewer!…This is just great, I knew things were to good to be true… Maybe this is where I was meant to be…… You know!… After being where I am for so long, you get used to the pungent, foul, nauseating smells…… It’s not  quite as bad now…… It sure is a dark and dreary place, but maybe I can be left alone here… Alone to wallow in my putrid existence……
         Shhh!…… Something’s coming… Cockroaches… Maybe they will accept me for what I am……A broken and bent has been who realizes that this is my destiny… What was that Mr. Cockroach?…… I’m too small and cold to be a good home for you and your family… I could have told you that before you invaded me, judged me, and left your nasty excrement in me when you decided you had had enough of me…… Just leave me to sink into the waste that I am…… At least I can hide away here and wither in the torment of the excruciating time I have left…
         What now?… My broken body is rocking back and forth… I’m feeling really sick now… Even the wind can’t refrain from having its fun in watching me suffer…… It has blown me back into a world that cares not for those whose purpose has been taken away, not by their choosing, but by those whose greed and selfishness drain us to feel empty and useless……
         I can’t see all that well for the slime and grime that has invaded me, but it looks like a young girl in a wheelchair heading my way… This must be it… She will surely run me over, end my miserable existence…. I wish I could say it was good while it lasted…… Wait a minute……Why is she picking me up?… She must be going to throw me in the traffic… That will most definitely accomplish the inevitable……Why is she waiting?… Does she know I’m suffering and wants to torture me further……She is taking me somewhere…… Could it be?… Could she be going to place me in the garbage?……At least I won’t be alone there……Wait!… Stop!… Little girl!…We have passed several garbage cans….. How can you tease me in my time of such sorrow?……You’re trying to drown me?… I wish you could, but it is not to be… For I am a can, an empty can, useless to you……Why is she drying me off?… She must have realized I can’t be drowned… What fate lies in wait for me now?…… Wow!… I feel so clean… This is so much better… I can see more clearly now… This young girl has a bent and broken body like mine… What could she possibly need me for?…Would it not be nice to be used again if only for awhile?…… She is bending me back into shape…. Almost as good as new… I feel like a new can!…… But why?…… Whatever she plans to use me for I will give everything I have left in me to please this angel of mercy…..I am not believing this…… She is placing me high on a shelf…… It’s wonderful… I can see and hear everything from here…… I feel like I belong here…… But what purpose must I fulfill to repay this sweet young girl with the bent and broken body who rolled up in her wheelchair and saved me, pulled me from the gutter, and placed me so very carefully on this shelf next to this beautiful plant and other things she must care for deeply…… For she comes to us, she smiles and sings as she cares for us…… She treats me as if I were a precious diamond, deserving to shine, to dazzle, to reflect the warm sunlight into something more than what I am…… I am a can… Not empty, but full of thankfulness, respect, love, hope, and happiness.
    The moral of my story?  The next time you're out walking around and you see an empty can laying on the ground.  Pick it up!  Put it in a trash can, or better yet, take it home, clean it up, give it a place to exist, if only to remind you that you can be more than what you think you are now! 


                                                                                Doug L.