The Last Banana

A monkey swings slowly from the branch of a tree
And thinks to herself, "I'm a little hungry.
A sweet ripe banana would do me just right
And tide me over until dinner tonight."
So she turns her head and looks around,
Up high in the trees and on the ground,
Through the leaves and vines, through the bushes and grass,
Deep in the hollow of an endless crevasse,
To the north, to the south, to the west and east,
Past a flocking band of wildebeests,
By a three-eared, five-legged, green-spotted cow,
"You'd think I'd have seen a banana by now!"
She looks in the ocean and asks a few fishes,
"Do you think that bananas are somewhat delicious?
If so, do you have one or two you could spare?"
The fish just look at the monkey and stare.
Onto the desert where a snake slithers by
the monkey, who says with a wink of her eye,
"Excuse me there, Snake, yes, I'm trying to find
a banana - you know, the long and yellow kind?
You don't happen to know where to meet such a treat
Out here where the sand is burning my feet!"
"Oh, yesss," hisses the snake, "It'sss good you asssked me,
I thought I jusssted passssed sssix or ssseven banana tresss.
But, alasss, thisss desssert playsss tricksss on your eyesss.
It wasss only a mirage - an unexsspected surprissse!"
The monkey continues her search on a mountain
And spots in the sky a lone and proud falcon.
"Oh, Falcon," she calls, "Hello, Falcon, yes, hi!
What luck to have found you out up in the sky!
I've been hunting bananas, but my luck's been quite thin.
Do you happen to know where to look, Peregrine?"
The bird tucks its wings and begins a steep dive
And swoops past the monkey at a hundred and five
Miles per hour, then perches atop a pine tree,
And explains, "I don't eat fruit, just little monkeys!"
It doesn't take long for the monkey to think
Of preventing herself from becoming extinct.
So she runs very fast until she is free
To catch her short breath and walk tiredly.
"Self," she demands, "I've got to try harder.
When looking around I've got to be smarter.
And smarter I'll be! I know just what I need!
I will build myself a banana-finding machine!"
So she gets to work on her brand-new invention
Adding gizmos and whatzits for banana detection.
"It's finished!" she shouts and flips on the switch.
The machine starts to hum, then to whirl and twitch
And putter and whistle and bellow and choke,
Then explodes in a puff of banana-finding smoke.
"Oh no!" she cries, "Boo hoo! Just great!
I've found no bananas and it's getting late!"
The monkey just panics, and scours the ground
Wildly running and looking around,
Frantically checking each cranny and nook,
Even in places where no one should look.
And finally, exhausted, she decides to go home,
Dejected, rejected, empty and alone,
Hungry and tired and totally worn out
From all of the looking and searching about.
But when she arrives her heart begins beating,
She sees her whole family at the dinner table, eating.
Her siblings sip goulash of termites and mud,
Her dad puts his fork down and says, "Hi there, bud."
Her mom calls out, "Goodness, child, where have you been?
Your brothers and sisters couldn't wait to begin.
They've eaten most everything, and all of the stew,
But don't worry - I saved the last banana for you."