Do I need to use eval when reading in a YAML file?

I'm used to serializing with Data::Dumper. It produces a dump string which, when loaded, sets variables to values. E.g: 

use Data::Dumper;
@arg2 = [{a => 1, b =>2}], [qw($balloon)];
Data::Dumper->Dump(@arg2)

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gives 
'$balloon = {
             \'a\' => 1,
             \'b\' => 2
           };

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When that's printed to a file, and later loaded, $balloon gets set right. But for YAML: 
use YAML::XS;
@arg2 = ([{a => 1, b =>2}], [qw($balloon)]);
Dump(@arg2)

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gives 
 '---
- a: 1
  b: 2
---
- $balloon
'

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which, when loaded, gives, 
0  ARRAY(0x89889e8)
   0  HASH(0x8994130)
      'a' => 1
      'b' => 2
1  ARRAY(0x8ef27c8)
   0  '$balloon'

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Should I just use eval to get $balloon set to the right value? Or is there a YAML function to do this?

In reply to Serialization and eval in YAML by throop

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