Sendak Sendoff (Once)

... Of course
       I never knew where they were.

For I shut my eyes 
          when I thought I saw them
And I shut my ears
          when I though I heard them
And I shut my heart
          when I thought I felt them.

Was it the Wild Things?
     I suppose.
          But what are they?

"I don't write for children;
     I write, and somebody says,
          that's for children."

We should have known.
We should have known.

No one fears another that completely.
No one knows another that wholly.
No one wakes another that widely.

"I don't write for children."

I never knew where they were
     until I fell;
     until I left;
     until I stared without blinking...
                            once.

Once I conquered yellow eyes;
Once I conquered the sea;
Once I conquered the forest;
Once I conquered me.

Once.

(c) 2012 Norman Dziedzic Jr.