MARCH OF THE MONSTERS: "SNOWMAN"
Cold day. A day to play. Lots of snow has come to stay.
Something else comes in the snow. What it is, we do not know.
Hello. Hello! Have you come to play?
Have you come to play on this nice snow day?
Its fur is white. Its teeth are bright. Its big red eyes are quite a sight.
Where it came from, we can't say. But I hope it wants to play.
Hello there with your fur so light!
Would you like to have a snowball fight?
I throw a snowball and run and hide.
I hit the creature's furry side.
Katie's ball has a rock inside.
The creature's eyes will open wide!
We do not know this creature's name.
But we can play with it all the same.
The thing is happy. It likes this game.
What it is, we don't know, but it seems quite tame.
Then Katie hits it with her ball. It does not like that ball at all.
It blinks. It shivers and it shakes. It shows us claws that look like stakes.
It lets out one long, dreadful call. Now the creature is so tall!
Katie runs away. I hope she will not fall.
This is not good. No, this is bad. The thing is very, very mad.
Oh, poor Katie. Silly Kate! Out on the ice, without her skates!
The snowman follows, and when Kate slips, her head in its long claws it grips.
And when it tugs, her neck it rips. It looks at me, and my heart skips.
I run away to tell my Dad. Dad is home. I am glad.
Dad will know just what to do. He can fix this rotten grue.
But Dad is working. Dad says shoo! I have no time to spend with you!
And there aren't any monsters, you know that isn't true.
There are no snowmen with red eyes.
There are no demons in disguise.
There are no dragons, green or red.
No goblins live under your bed.
There is no Nessie in the lake.
Or Old Ones, sleeping or awake.
There are no kingdoms in the sky.
No fairy realm. It's all a lie.
In fact, no matter what you feel
THERE ARE NO MONSTERS. THEY AREN'T REAL.
Now find your sister, and go play.
I have work to do today.
I walk away. The day is gray.
Kate says Hey, don't you want to play?
I think of saying No, I don't want to play on this bad snow day!
Our snowman has to go away!
But instead I say Hey,
what if the monster ate Dad?
(Today is Theodor Geisel's birthday, and this nonsense is dedicated to him.)