'Night of the Scorpion' by Nissim Ezakiel

Night of the Scorpion

I remember the night my mother
Was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours
Of steady rain had driven him
To drawl beneath a sack of rice.
Parting with a poison flash
Of diabolic tail in the dark room--
He risked the rain again.
The peasants came like swarms of flies
And buzzed the name of God a hundred times
To paralise the Evil One.
With candles and with lanterns
Throwing giant scorpion shadows
On the sun-baked walls
They searched for him: he was not found.
They clicked their tongues.
With every movement that the scorpion made
His poison moved in Mother’s blood, they said.
May he sit still, they said.
May the sins of your previous birth
Be burned away tonight, they said.
May your suffering decrease
The misfortunes of your next birth, they said.
May the sum of evil
Balanced in this unreal world
Against the sum of good
Become diminished by your pain.
May the poison purify your flesh
Of desire, and your spirit of ambition,
They said, and they sat around
On the floor with my mother in the centre,
The peace of understanding on each face.
More candels and more lanterns, more neighbours,
More insects, and the endless rain.
My mother twisted through and through
Groaning on a mat.
My father, sceptic, rationalist,
Trying every curse and blessings,
Powder, mixture, herb and hybrid.
He even poured a little paraffin
Upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.
I watched the flame feeding on my mother.
I watched the holy man perform his rites
To tame the poison with an incantation.
After twenty hours
It lost its sting.
My mother only said
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
And spared my children.

What I Feel

   Nissim Ezakiel is one of the most prominent poets of post-independent India. He wrote about Indian lives and experiences. In this poem Ezakiel depicts how a village mother was stung by a scorpion and superstitious country-people gathered around her and performed religious rites to get her rid of the Evil One's venomous curse. But the husband of the lady was quite rational and tried to save her through rational ways. The poem ends in a universal note--the mother's desire to save her children even at the cost of her own life. The poem is written in a lucid language and without any rhyme. It intends to give a blow to the  superstitious beliefs residing at the core of Indian country-life.