"Kumquat-ly," the policeman said,
"Lettuce not delay."
"Peas don't resist!" Rosemary cried,
"Honey! Dew what they say!"

"We cantaloupe; I have been caught,"
Arti choked back bitter tears;
"That darned hot potato had to turnip
And now I'll get ten years!"

She touched his arm so gingerly;
Too short their thyme that night.
"I will a-peel!" Art cried out
as they pulled him from her sight.

And so they sentenced him to life
and threw him in the bin.
He sits and ponders what might have bean
and romaines there for his sin.

April 2000