The Banquet - a poem

i want a vivid strawberry childhood
with juice dripping down my chin
and just once to eat my ice-cream with no hands

give me endless choice of entrée
with flavours i can’t name
and deliverance from polony on white bread

then stir in daring textured flavours
though a mango-ripened youth
and chilli-tinged adventures, that call me forth

and when my spirit is al denté
i want to feast on life’s desserts
but learn to ask from whence the meal came

in love, let me relish richness
but banish margarine
and lick chocolate mousse from someone else’s soul

add lemon zest to my chance meetings
and flambé my opening nights
but gently-sauté sunday nights at home

let me mature to see past garnish
and give thanks for cups of rice
and feed and nourish others from my stores

let me savour old friends with ceramic pots
of soup they cooked themselves
who break bread with me in ritual that holds my gaze

and when the autumn apple falls
still crisp and tart in age
give me the grace to know the meal is done

and pass on my family recipes
but return enough of me to earth
to fertilise the soil for years to come

By Katrina Bercov