Louise's Busy Day Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

Never was it a smooth life,
For Louise, as a housewife,
With her immature children
And husband, unhelpful one.

Jean Marie, seven year old,
And Justin, six-year old-
Her sons seldom stayed at home.
And she had to run after them.

She, unlike other women,
Took more care of her children.
Also she was conscious ever,
Her man was an ex-miller.

She gave him the respect due,
And kept telling him, in her view,
He would open a new mill
By God’s mercy and will.

There was one more occasion,
When Jean Marie and Justin
With different stories came home,
And she was tackling them.

Her two daughters by then,
With Jeanne Abadie stepped in.
To Louise, they introduced the girl
As their friend from the school.

She gave them hot onion soup
With bread crumbs floating up,
The noise around woke up
Francois from his sleep.

He went near the fire-place
Threw a brushwood piece
That kindled the fire up.
He was still half asleep.

The stock of dry wood,
Was too little, he found.
“Should I run for this wood,
Leaving my work, ” he shouted.

“We’ll go out for wood, ”
The children volunteered.
After a deep discussion,
They came to a decision.

The sons should remain
Marie along with Jeanne
Would go to the wood
And collect brushwood.

As outside it was severe cold,
Bernadette wasn’t first allowed,
But later, when she insisted,
Unwillingly, Louise had to yield.

Dressed in clothes warm,
Bernadette went with them,
The three took up the road
That led to the dense wood.

Louise’s neighbor, Bouhouhorts,
A lady, whose child had fits,
Suddenly came running to her
For medical attention proper.

The poor child too often,
Had an attack of convulsion,
That made his mother to run
For her help on every occasion.

Thus every Louise day,
Was a kind of busy day,
But she was more concerned,
About Bernadette, in her mind.