Night of Scorpion (Poem) by Nissim Ezekiel

It is about the night when the poet’s mother is bitten by a 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
Time 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 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 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.