Night of the Scorpion by Nissim Ezekiel (Poem & Summary)

 

Night of the Scorpion

by Nissim Ezekiel

(Poem & Summary) 

The poem ‘Night of the Scorpion’ presents a family and social atmosphere and also the rural superstitions. The poem sets a ‘tender family situation’ through the poet’s mother, who is stung by a scorpion and the situation is given multiple treatment and maternal affection.

Night of the Scorpion

I remember the night my mother

was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours

of steady rain had driven him

to crawl beneath a sack of rice.

 

Parting with his 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 paralyse the Evil One.

 

With candles and with lanterns

throwing giant scorpion shadows

on the mud-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 all 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 candles, 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 blessing,

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.

‘Night of the Scorpion’, in the Indian rural background, narrates an incident in which the poet tells, what an Indian mother feels when she faces a miserable situation. The poet says that a scorpion, in a rainy night enters into their house and stings his mother on her toe. The scorpion, after stinging his mother, slips away into the dark room. The simple and affectionate villagers come from the neighboring houses and try every-thing they know, but nothing gives relief to his mother. When all their practices fail, his father tries his medicines like curse, blessings, powder, mixture, herb and also the paraffin, but of no use. It is only after 20 hours that the pain subsides and his mother feels comfort.

When the mother feels comfort, she heaves a sigh of relief and thanked God that the scorpion had stung her and not to her children. This is a natural reaction of an Indian mother.

The poet has not divided his poem, ‘Night of the Scorpion’ into stanzas except the last three lines, which have been written separately as the climax of the poem. He has not followed any rhyming scheme also. ‘Flash of diabolic tail’ and ‘the dark room’ suggest ‘evil’. Figures of speech, like ‘swarms of flies’ etc. imparts a beauty to the poem. The poem illustrates the truth of the proverb – “God could not be everywhere so he created the mother”.