Essex, England

Crimson skinned radish
   declared a sworn silence,
green chilies momentarily subdued,
   poor brinjal desperately tried
to cool the temperature
   bringing all the smoothness
of a polished democrat.
   “In the conversation,” it said,
“we need respect
   for each person’s opinion.”
Red tomato half bored in the corner
   hummed in praise of laziness,
“All the comforts lie in the silence,  
   in meaningless words
with funny sounds, I say,
   provided they are spoken
with light-heartedness.”
   Thoughtfully after a while, it puttered,
“Seriousness is poison my friends,
   those who can’t live happily by nature
make deep conversation imminent.”
   Yellow-green cauliflower in the corner
just nodded with heavy eyes,
   a little twitch on its face;
green chillies signalled apologies
   for not saying anything
in favour of what is bitter.
   And soon the situation changed—
they all began singing,
   laughing about something so feast-like
that it seemed feasting was
   an early way of being civilized.
All life-forms lusted after happiness—
   everyone was free to join in.