The Forgotten Candy Cane

by Jaclyn N. McCluskie
(Kansas City, Kansas, United States)

One little candy cane forgotten in the store
she sat there all alone feeling utterly ignored.

She thought her rosy red, and brilliant white attire
would make her very popular and outwardly admired.

But no one came, no one looked, no one even stopped
so candy cane she sighed and by a box of tea she plopped.

Candy Cane she sat there thinking while tapping on her chin
she had to find more candies where she knew she would fit in.

So after all the lights went out and the store closed for the night
she slipped down all the aisles and searched with all her might.

She asked the peanut butter jars but they were no help at all…
She asked the breads but could not understand their southern drawl!

The lettuce heads were snobby and the pomegranates slept
and all the leaks were squeaking way too much to help a bit.

The milk could not be heard as it talked behind the glass
and the cheeses were too busy to answer when she asked.

The candy cane felt hopeless, a tear fell down her cheek
how would she get a family for Christmas to put her on their tree?

Then all of a sudden, there was a THUD, a BANG, and a CRASH!
Then Santa rolled out of the air vent and said “Quick I gotta dash!”

“I need an extra candy cane for a tree I found all bare!
I have to show the child there that Santa really cares!”

The candy cane jumped up and down and in a tiny voice she cheered!
“Santa take me with you, I’m the very last one here!”

So Santa picked her up and hugged her really tight
he said, “You have made me happy on this special Christmas night!”

So wisped away on Santa’s sleigh to the home with a tree so bare
so a child would wake on Christmas morn with a candy cane waiting there.

Now the candy cane is a special symbol of why Christmas came to be
White to signify the birth of Jesus and his sinless purity.

The candy is made hard, to signify the rock – our faith’s foundation
four stripes of red, three small, one big, the blood shed for our salvation.

When upside-down the candy cane looks like the letter “J”
it reminds us of the name of He who will return one day.

Now turn that candy cane right side up and you see the Good Shepherd’s cane
it lifts lost lambs when they have fallen, if from the flock they’ve gone astray.

Now whenever you hang pretty candy canes from the boughs of your Christmas tree
you will understand why we put them there to remember Jesus saved you and me!