###mother Teresa (03) Agnes As Sister Teresa Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

In the year nineteen-twenty-eight,
On the 25th, September, the date
That gave Agnes a good start
For her career, in the right spirit.

She left her home that day,
To serve Blessed Virgin Mary,
Of the holy Institute at Ireland,
That was uppermost in her mind.

“Sisters of Loreto” was its name.
To start with, she joined the same.
She had her initial training
In Dublin and later in Darjeeling.

To speak English, she had learnt,
As it was most essential she felt.
She took the name Sister Teresa,
That later became Mother Teresa.

The same year, by the December end,
She sailed for India, her dreamland,
With a few more Sisters aboard,
Despite the jolt, the ship had caused.

They had lost, for several weeks,
Their daily attendance to mass,
Also they missed the Christmas
While they sailed on the seas.

But they spent praying merrily
In their little group assembly,
And also sang Christmas songs,
To overcome their tiresomeness.

On the 6th January, next year,
The ship cast down its anchor
At the destination, Calcutta Harbour,
The gateway to the dreamland of her.

During May, nineteen thirty one,
After the period of her probation,
She then joined as a Teacher
In the Loreto School there.

Outside the high school premises,
She saw poverty in the slums.
Moved by their poor plight
She served them, to her might.

She became a very popular teacher
In the St. Mary’s High School there.
She had spent seventeen years
As Teacher and Headmistress.

On 24th May nineteen-thirty-seven,
She took her final Vows as a nun,
In her words, the “Spouse of Jesus, ”
For “All Eternity, ” in His cause.

The name of Mother Teresa she took,
As a mother’s role in her real look.
She loved her students and sisters,
And kept them all in good cheers.

Her courage, unselfishness, charity,
Her dedication, joy, hard work, fidelity,
Boosted up her popular name
Still more to the height of fame.

During the year 1946, she was given,
The charge of “Daughters of St. Anne, ”
Founded by the Loreto nuns,
Besides her teaching profession.

This school was in Bengali medium.
The teachers wore sari uniforms,
White sari in the summer
And blue one in the winter.

“Bengali Teresa, ” she then became.
She toiled, not for a name or fame,
But with all her heart and soul,
In serving the poor people.