Opelousas Road

Evangeline Parish Moonrise, Ashlee Michot 2015

Opelousas Road

Qui a pendu les cornes de la lune 
Sur l'Opelousas Road? 
J'suis parti ‘oir un cœur si noir et 
Bleu comme l'indigo 
Quand la demie lune sourit 
C'est dessus la terre de Tate Cove 
Et j'suis parti 'oir un un cœur si noir 

Comme le chemin àyou j'rode

We drive that parish highway 
After we've had a few 
And if you can see clearly 
The caution light will wink at you 
J'rentre dans ma paroisse 
Là-bas la lune me semble si proche 
Quand la Plaisance est à ma doigt 

C'est la Prairie Ronde qu'est à ma gauche 

Who hung the horns of the moon
On the Opelousas Road?
J'suis parti ‘oir 

Les yeuxs si noirs

Gros comme des socos

La lune est bien trop croche  

Je passe le chemin de Zydeco

Et j'suis parti 'oir et 

 -guette vos guard 

Les Blues de Mars Rice Road

A la bouche de Mars Rice Road

On s'est balladé

Debaillon Plantation à l'anse Cavalier

On a fait les quatres coins à la Prairie Ronde

Et les quatres cents coups jusqu'au Bayou Marron

Prairie Ronde

J'étais pour te 'oir à la maison 

mais quand j'suis arrivée là bas 

j'avait pas personne
Je te suivre après jusqu'à la fin du monde 

ou au moins l'autre bord de la Prairie Ronde
 
Oh boy mais toi garçon
Tu connais tous les tournes de toutes les chansons
Quand tu joues la belle Valse de Gueydan
J'après 'oir le vent sur la prairie tremblante

Praying for the World at the Prairie Ronde Shrine

 I was driving the Opelousas Road today and had a few hours to myself, so I decided to turn off on the Prairie Ronde Highway, a road that despite having passed easily ten thousand times in my life, I had never once traveled down. People ask me if I've photographed the Ave Maria Shrine out there, so I thought today was the day. I traveled the broad turns through the prairie communities of Andrepont and Frilot Cove, places that despite their proximity to my hometown, I had never seen.

It was very peaceful out there on the Prairie Ronde and I could immediately smell the citrus scent of the rose bushes planted around the perimeter of the shrine. I was surprised to find the shrine bustling with people, there were ladies and men holding rosaries and speaking in English and French. 

There was an open air metal pavilion with benches that protected the inner room of the Shrine, and there was a fine mist all around from small tubes piped to spray cooling water on the faithful. It was very misty indeed, and the metal benches and prayer cards got damp if the wind was right, but it was so pleasant and cooled us in the mounting heat of a June afternoon.  In the small central room is a replica of the Fatima statue carved by the same family as the original in Portugal. I spent a good 20 minutes alone in the little shrine listening to the group singing and praying the rosary. It was very cool, and very, very calm in there. The statue in the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is the most beautiful and peaceful I have ever seen.

I met a Mrs. Soileau who said that I happened to be there on the first Saturday of the month, when it was promised that, if this shrine was built on this "Holy Land" of Prairie Ronde, the Blessed Mother herself would come there for five minutes from 6:00 until 6:05 to take the petitions of the faithful to her son.

Well it was 5:00 and if the Lady herself was coming in an hour, I was sure to stick around. I learned that the group had been there since 3:00 (and really since 1996), praying the rosary repeatedly and also saying the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, which I had never prayed before, and found it to be quite beautiful. I sat on the metal bench praying the rosary and listening to the voices of the women and men, feeling the cool mist and watching trucks and old tractors pass on the road. 


 

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

At one minute to six they began to ring a bell, and rang it more loudly when the hour came, when a younger man in a blue work shirt opened the door to the shrine, and as if divine light spilled out, everyone fell to their knees and the whole scene went into a silent prayer-scape. The scent of roses again was in the air; all you could hear were the bird songs of the prairie, and the soft hum of the mist, which covered us like dew.