323.Yellow Yearning.

'Bananas in Pajamas' are popular characters on Australian Children's TV.

YELLOW YEARNINGS

All through the sombre War Years

One fruit was on my mind!

And I didn't want to make-do

With fruit of another kind.

'When will we get bananas, Mum?'

That was my refrain,

'When will we get bananas, Mum?'

Circling in my brain.

I suppose there were many apples

And of course the blackberries grew,

But bananas were so exotic:

Only bananas would do.

I imagined how the taste would be....

Absolutely divine!

And I longed and longed and longed and longed

To make a banana mine!

But, of course, they were a luxury,

Not a cargo essential,

And year by year my banana dream

Grew ever more reverential.

Then came the day! The War was won!

No more were we deprived!

And one day came the announcement

'Bananas have arrived!'

There was only one per family,

But everyone agreed

That mine was the major passion;

Mine could be the first feed.

Oh how I longed to eat it then,

Straightway where I stood!

But showing-off to the other girls......

Wow! That would be good!

So I packed it in my school-bag

Away from prying eyes.

(I wanted my revelation

To be a complete surprise.)

Came recess and I flourished it

For everyone to see!

No-one else had a banana!

How lucky could one be!

The others stood in a circle,

With wide admiring eyes,

As I 'unzipped' my banana

And held aloft my prize!

Then, very very slowly

I took my very first bite.

Everyone watched me eat it!

What promise of delight!

*

And I didn't even like it!

It seemed all thick and woolly!

It's taken quite a while for me

To appreciate it fully!

I learnt the word 'anticlimax'

That fatal day, at lunch.

In fact I felt quite peevish

As I said

'Thanks! Thanks a bunch!'