An evocative poem by Dr Roopali about a banana tree, exclusively for Different Truths.

I watched the banana tree grow in the simmering summer heat 
so very slow.

The sun’s rays turning
It’s sparse leaves 
a dry chrome yellow.
It was a thirsty tree indeed. 
I hobbled across and 
bent my aching back to pour iced water from the refrigerator 
letting its invisible roots suck the cool liquid into its parched throat.
I heard the gurgle 
as it drank deeply.

Then when the rains came tumbling out of crackling lightning stuffed clouds
It’s leaves grew mighty and big.
Gigantic and majestic
they stretched out into the sky as if in supplication of the Rain God. 

Then all of a sudden one day 
when the rains had gone away 
my ageing eyes found a tear drop shaped large red mouthwatering merry banana flower  .

Casually in a day or two 
It dropped its lotus like petals  revealing a promise of bananas . 

Each day I watched the 
tiny flowers turn into fruit
the tree began to glow
and green bananas began to grow.

Nature was unwrapping it’s golden gift. 
The bunch was lowering itself swift. 
Ready to bend and serve.

It was magical to watch its embryonic journey
from flower to fruit!

I wait impatiently and fearfully for the green bananas to turn golden yellow. 
Sweetly fragrant readying itself for hungry creatures and greedy mouths. 

To see the birth of the banana is to see into the life of things. 
Mystical and mysterious it miraculously unwound itself before my eager eyes. 
The Bard had said “Ripeness is All”.
That alone is the truth of a fruitful life. 

Picture by the poet

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur is a poet, travel writer, and social justice activist. A former professor of English Literature at Delhi University, and a creative writing professor at IGNOU, she is a widely published academic and creative writer. Her book Twice Colonised: Women in African Literature, is a seminal text on women’s socio-political empowerment. In 2020-21, she co-edited two poetry anthologies – In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry, and Earth Fire Water Wind.

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