A21 Plan To Trap Failed Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

The police failed to control,
The large inflow of people,
So, they laid out a plan
To arrest the girl soon.

The only course of action
That could be easily taken
Was to take her into custody
When she was taking money.

For it was deemed an offence
To do any religious practice
With the sole aim of profit,
That attracted police arrest.

They sent a person,
Posing as a rich man,
To trap Bernadette
At her house, Cachot.

To Louise he said,
“My daughter, in sick bed,
Wants your daughter,
Her rosary, to spare.”

“I’ll give a gold coin
If her rosary is given
In exchange for this
For my daughter’s use.”

Louise refused his offer
As it wasn’t proper
To sell the rosary,
Blessed by the Lady.

He begged however
For another favor
“Let her touch at least
The rosary I’ve brought.”

“Two silver coins
I’ll give for this.
Please don’t refuse
As a special case.”

Bernadette refused this
And left the house,
Saying, “Go away please
The Lady will not like this.”

Out of mere sympathy,
Louise placed his rosary,
O’er her daughter’s bed,
But not for money she did.

With a cunning look,
He took his rosary back,
Leaving two coins there
Secretly in a table corner.

Jean Marie, who noticed it
Kept them in his pocket,
To be given to his mother
When there was a need later.

The police took the family,
But during the enquiry,
The coins came out
From Jean Marie’s pocket.

Bernadette gave him a blow
The two coins she did throw
On the floor of the court,
And gave her feelings out.

The court found the case
As the one most frivolous
And let off the family
Who were not guilty.

It was a moral victory
For the Soubirous family,
It earned them more respect
But for the police, a defeat.