Night of the Scorpion

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 paralyze 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 center,
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.






ABOUT THE POEM

The poem was published in the year 1953 in the collection of poem called
sixth poems the second volume of the collection. The poem is about the night
when a woman (the poet's mother) in a poor village in India is stung by a
scorpion. Concerned neighbors pour into her hut to offer advice and help. All
sorts of cures are tried by the neighbors, her husband and the local holy man,
but time proves to be the best healer- 'after twenty hours it lost its sting. In
this poem "Night of the Scorpion", Nissim Ezekiel poignantly describes a
mother's selfless love for her children as she, despite having been bitten by a
scorpion herself and narrowly escaping death, is grateful to god, that the
scorpion had bitten her and spared her children. The poem is not really about
the scorpion or its sting, but contrasts the reactions of family, neighbors and
his father, with the mother's dignity and courage.

SUMMARY

Night of the Scorpion' is a poignant poem that evokes the strong hold of
superstition within our social psyche. Ezekiel recalls the night when his
mother was stung by a scorpion. With the onset of the monsoons, the ten
hours of warm and steady rains had compelled the mysterious scorpion to
crawl into the house and hid itself beneath a sack of rice in the dark store
room. Without any mercy, it raised up its lethal, venomous and diabolic tail
and stung Ezekiel's mother in one of her toes while she was busy in the store
room unaware. Then it left her helpless in the dark store room and went out
into the rain again. Almost all the peasants in the neighbourhood came in with
a high spirit of concern.
They entered the residence like swarm of flies and chanted loudly, the name
of God for more than a hundred times to paralyze the evil sting of the
scorpion. They came in with lanterns and candles and created giant shadows
of the scorpion on the mud baked walls.
They searched for him but he was not found. They clicked their tongues and
said that with every movement that the scorpion made, the venom moved in
the mother's blood. She laid at the center of the floor of the room with the
peasants surrounding her. Their first chanted prayer was for the scorpion to
remain still. Secondly, they chanted that her present suffering decrease the
misfortunes of her next birth. Thirdly, that the sum of evil balanced in this
unreal world against the sum of good become diminish by her pain.
As the mother twisted, rolled around and groaning in pain, more neighbours
came in with more lanterns and candles, while the rains show no signs of
stopping. Ezekiel's father on the other hand, is a man of science and he tried to
create an antidote out of every powder, mixture, and herb. He's not superstitious
and tried to treat the sting using a scientific method. He even poured a little
paraffin on the bitten toe and lit a match to it. The flame was feeding on the
mother's toe and everybody in the room was watching it. The holy man was also
performing his rites to tame the poison with the charms of an incantation. It
enacted in elaborate detail, how people react under similar circumstances.
Finally after twenty hours the venom of the sting lost its power. The mother was
overjoyed with a huge sigh of relief. She only thanked God that the scorpion
picked on her and spared her children. The reaction of the mother, which stresses
her maternal feelings above all ritualistic practices, imbues the poem with a rare
warmth.

THEME
Apparently the theme of the poem is an experience of a scorpion bite that was
inflicted on the poets mother. The poem is a first person narrative of the
agony that a son had to undergo watching his mother suffer due to a scorpion
sting. But subtly the theme of the poem is a stringent satire on the lack of
medical and scientific knowledge that plagues the lives of so many people in
India. The poem shows how the physical ailment is associated with the
spiritual fallouts in a typical ignorant village.
Night of the Scorpion creates a profound impact on the reader with an
interplay of images relating to good and evil, light and darkness. Then the
effect is heightened once again with the chanting of the people and its magical,
incantatory effect. The beauty of the poem lies in that the mothers comment
which lands the reader quite abruptly on simple, humane grounds with an
ironic punch.