I am an empty bottle

I am an empty bottle

Pulled from a six-pack

Opened on a whim

Drained of premium strength

Filled with a long sigh

Only the lonely know

How to hold on to me

Long past time to let go

A gentle roll

Into the gutter

Kissing the pavement

Along the way

Risking a breaking

Taking my chances

With the late-night crowd

Reeling from

Overpriced liquor

Served in a plastic glass

Some have English class

In the morning

Even the thought

Makes me shiver

There must be a message there

Perhaps I will carry it forever

As I bob along

Floating in the run-off

Riffing on a theme

Of falling rain

Skittling into a storm drain

If I carried a note

Held it long enough

I could float

Across the sea

And be swept

By a trade wind

To an island far away

What would my message be

What would I say

When I was never

Of any value

Once my cork was popped

I am a cautionary tale

Drained before

I ever reached maturity

If there was any purity

In my soul

It was emptied of promise

Long before

My bubbles were ever burst