Last night,
There were vines
in my ceiling, baby.
And the walls…
The walls became the world.
And an ocean tumbled by,
A blue mess, like
Shaken sheets and I
Got into a boat,
And sailed on.
Over those blue seas,
In that boat, just for me.
I sailed over weeks and a day.
Far, far away. I sailed away from you,
On that ocean blue.
Until I came face to face
With wild things, in a wild place.
Through time and space
To where the wild things are.
And they were the most terrible things
I’d ever seen.
With yellow eyes,
sharp teeth and claws.
But they said I was more wild
Than them all…
And so they crowned me…queen.
They gave me robes and a royal throne.
Never let me be alone.
Convinced me I didn’t need a man
That I was a queen.
So the wild rumpus…began.
We climbed and
swung from vine-y trees.
I banged my elbows
They scraped their knees.
They let me be
A little girl again.
They let me see the world again.
We ate like animals,
Ripped into our food,
And it never ever tasted
So good.
We didn’t use manners,
Or forks, knives or plates.
We played until dawn,
Went to bed late.
But, I soon grew bored of
romps and revelry.
All play and no work,
Hadn’t satisfied me.
So one morning when they
Were all asleep.
Yellow eyes closed and
Claws tucked away.
I snuck off, by the light of day
Got into the boat on which I
Had arrived, as I started to sail
Away, the things came and cried.
“Don’t go!” they begged.
“Don’t leave us!” they whined.
But I ignored them, their queen,
And I left them behind.
The trip back home was longer
Than the trip there had been.
I sailed into hurricanes,
Against the sea and the wind.
But I had a mission this time,
A destination, a place to go.
I wasn’t just sailing
into the unknown.
I was going home.
So after weeks of sailing,
Weeks and a day.
The wild things were gone,
Back far away.
And when I came back,
You were in bed, a frown on
Your face, bad thoughts
In your head.
So I took of my crown,
Took off my robes.
Got under the sheets,
And snuggled in close.
The place in bed was still warm
From when I had gone.
You smiled in sleep,
And the bright lights of dawn
Were held back for a while,
Like when Odysseus came
Back home to his wife,
It’s exactly the same.
But instead of waking,
And talking into the night.
In sleep, you pulled me in closer,
Hugged me in tight.
The frown disappeared,
And a smile replaced
The deep lines of concern
That were etched in your face.
I knew then you had missed me,
I knew then you did care.
I couldn’t wait until morning
For the stories to share.
About wild things far away
Over an ocean so deep.
But it wasn’t morning yet…
So I went to sleep.