The Janitors

There's an elephant on the white board

Surrounded by mathematical equations.

He stares at me.

Edward the elephant always sees me working.

Just like the giraffes in Room 235,

He watches.

If only he were alive,

If only he could see.

If only he could move his trunk and speak.

But he doesn't need to,

Because they already do.

The orange peels and paper plates,

Even the sticky notes--

They illuminate it all.

The shredded strips of paper tell a story

Among beds of grape soda,

Candy wrappers, and popped birthday balloons.

The pictures on the wall need not speak,

Because the trash in the basket tells all of the secrets.

But the photos are so intriguing

And the titles so enticing!

They are covered in dust.

The trash is changed daily--

Always new, always rotting.

The pictures will never age;

The garbage always will.

But they will never know.

They will never smell the rotting fish,

They will never see the spaghetti sauce,

They will never spill opaque liquids on their clothes.

They never will because they never must.

They must never take out their trash--

Only throw it in the basket.

I must.

I must take their trash.

And the elephant always watches,

And I always watch him back.

He is a creature on the wall.

He will never be in the basket.

Only the mistakes will go--

Only the leftovers

And broken parts.

And I erase them.

A new liner for a new day.

The office doors open

And they smile.

They see no leftovers,

No mistakes, no broken pieces.

They only see the elephant.

They only see the framed diplomas.

They only see the beautiful sunrise.

And they will never see me.

And we don't see him.

We ask,

We pray,

And we plea.

We want the trash gone.

And when our hearts are clean,

We see the splendor of the earth.

We have a new liner,

And thus a new beginning.

He walks around with trash bags,

Changing liners every day.

But we are not the same,

For I visit rooms.

Rooms with photos, whiteboards, and diplomas.

He visits people.

People with memories, emotions, and intelligence.

But we both take out the garbage.

Seen by only elephants,

But asked for by them.

We are thanked by them.

All things are made clean and new.