A14 Ridicule In The Class Room Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

The matter was taken
By the Chaplain Pomian
Then in all seriousness
To stop this madness.

“The girl is only fourteen
She claims having seen
The Most Blessed Virgin
That too in a remote cavern.”

“She’ll better understand,
In her class, if she’s ridiculed.
She may not play this fun
And go there once again.”

Like this, he told the matter,
To Sister Marie, the teacher,
Who took it up seriously,
But handled it carefully.

Sister Marie called her,
“Bernadette, come here,
Carefully you must listen
To this moral lesson.”

“It’s not a mere joke,
But a difficult task,
For anyone to take
This path and walk.”

“Many saintly men
As well as women
Came to this earth
And took their birth.”

“A pious life they led.
In forests they lived.
They ate roots with honey
They suffered ordeals many.”

“Some had not seen,
Nor had a vision
Of the Most Divine
God or Mary Virgin.”

“You’ve not undergone,
Even the first communion.
And you claim, you’ve seen
The Most Blessed Virgin? ”

“A fun of yourself you make,
For cheap popularity sake.
You’re fooling all others,
Wasting their precious hours.”

The entire class laughed
And she felt ridiculed.
But her faith on the Lady
Kept her head steady.

She came that afternoon,
To attend another session,
And without any companion,
She was walking alone.

Peyret, her neighbour,
On the way met her,
And seriously told her
That they waited for her.

To go there, she had a fear
As the police came behind her
But the Lady’s inviting call
Blocked her way to the school.

She turned back and ran
On the road to the cavern
To meet her Lady, not minding
The repeated police warning.

The Lady wasn’t there.
She cried out in horror.
“Today, I don’t see her…,
I don’t see her….”

Her rosary she took
And with a deep look
Starred at the empty rock
That gave her a shock.

“Perhaps, she hasn’t come
Because of the gendarme
Behind me, ” she cried.
This, no one believed.

She swooned and fell down
She was carried and taken
To Madam Nicolau’s bed
And there she was laid.

The depth of her feelings then,
Touched the heart of everyone.
Louise prayed for God’s mercy
And for her child’s recovery.

Francois felt for her daughter
And determined to help her
Even if he were to go to jail
By supporting his dear girl.