A New Orleans Proposal

Well, the house was wiped out
I mean, just wiped out
Water everywhere
Typical story, you know
Not any sadder than anybody else's
And I had my sister's to go to
Although, truth be told
I'd have rather taken my chances with the water
But that's another story for you
If you have a few days

Mr. Bogatelle lived across the street from me
And his house only got it so bad
So he invited me to come stay with him
But I told him if that my mama found out
I was living in a house with a man
I was not married to
She would crawl out of her tomb
Find me
And whoop me within an inch of my own life

I didn't even mention
What she'd do to him

Mr. Bogatelle and I had been seeing each other
Regularly, for quite some time
And if we were younger
I suppose we would have already been living together
And doing things
That my mother, in her ninety-seven years on this earth
Never even dreamed of

But we were both old-fashioned
So we did not
Live together
Or any such thing
Not even when the water was coming
And it might have been more sensible
To have two people shoveling water out of one basement
As opposed to both of us fending for ourselves

So I went to live with my sister
And when I arrived back at my home
Three months later
There was Mr. Bogatelle
Up on a ladder
Right in front of my door
Hanging a banner that said--

'Welcome Back Home'

He'd fixed up the place
Can't imagine how long it must have took him
And he even put on a new coat of paint
And replaced those awful windows
That mama used to love so much

Underneath the words
'Welcome Back Home'
Were the words--

'Wanna Get Married?'

He spelled 'married' wrong
But I found it charming
All the same

Truth be told, I can't say I had much interest
In getting married

I'd been on my own
For a long time
And I liked it just fine

But something about the whole thing
Just seemed too perfect
To say 'No' to

The chance to say--

Well, everything's gone
Nobody's who they were
And if any of us are going to get through this
We better start learning
To get through it together

So I told Mr. Bogatelle I'd marry him

It was a real New Orleans proposal

Sweet, but not so sweet
You couldn't taste the salt

In the air
In the tears
In the water still stuck in everything

It reminds you that everything's hard work
But if you work hard enough

You might just be okay