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 sun-baked walls they searched for him; he was not found.
They clicked their tongues. With every movement the scorpion made
his poison moved in Mother's blood, they said. May he sit still,
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 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 toes 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 incantation.
After twenty hours it lost its sting."
"My mother only said:
Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children."
Commentary
This is a pretty stark poem; albeit relieved to an extent by the display of maternal emotion at the end. Doesn’t rhyme at all, unlike most of Ezekiel’s poems I have read, but it does have a beauty when read with the right inflection. I studied this for my 10th grade exams and along with Frost’s “Stopping by Woods” and Wordsworth’s “Daffodils”, it’ll stay with me for a long time. I’d love to hear what you guys think of it and any bio info you have on Ezekiel.
regards,
gaurav
Links
We’ve run two of Ezekiel’s ‘Indian English’ poems on Minstrels:
Poem #516, ‘The Patriot’
Poem #579, ‘The Professor’
Between the two of them they cover Ezekiel’s biography and some background on his poetry.
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
David Wright · 4 March 2001
I just loved that poem! I found it riveting. I appreciate the poet’s role as interpreter and guide to unfamiliar territory, and this was much less strange to me than, say, if the poem were written as though from the standpoint of the suppliants themselves, a primal and direct incantation.
I am finding that I especially enjoy poems like this one that draw the reader along with a narrative pull akin to fiction, or poems at the other extreme - the reflective stillness of haiku, for example. Perhaps it is owing to the diffuseness and distractedness of my own mind, but I find poetry especially accessable when it either sits me down to tell me a story, or sits me down to observe one small thing, and to let that momentary awareness sink in. The common denominator, I suppose, is the poet’s attention to observation and reflection over cerebration (a word?) - poets who keep at least two tires on the solid asphalt of described reality. Maybe I’m saying nothing here. la la.
David
R · 22 February 2003
The great thing about this poem is that it is so stereotypical of old values: Mother, stung by an alusive scorpion, writhes in pain, while Father pours paraffin over her toe and sets it alight … he clearly believes in the more pragmatic solutions to the difficulties in life - but she still comments, ‘Thank God the scorpion picked on me’. Isn’t that so true of the older generation?
Justa small question - this poem is actually set out in 48 lines; has it been published on this website as a prose piece intentionally?
Great poem, though!
B
Rachel Rickard · 15 January 2004
It was totally crap I have to do a whole project on the stupid peom and i cant find any informaton on her or the poem what a loadf of poo!
Tina · 5 October 2004
first off, ezekiel is a man.
admittedly, this poem doesn’t seem to astounding, but you should try some of his other stuff before you judge. ‘the patriot’ is a good start, simple and sweet and ‘after reading a prediction’ too. the oxford india anthology of 12 modern indian poets has a good collection too. with an introduction to ezekiel, it doesn’t leave you so quite in the dark.
Sam Warley · 7 November 2004
I have to study this poem for GSCE. It would be very helpful if some one could give me a background for the poem and author so that I can understand it better, because right now it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Thanks Sam
Williams Samuel · 30 January 2005
I think you are missing a semi-colon in the middle of your sentence! Did your studies pay off?
Richard Kirsch · 18 February 2005
Somebody please explain this poem to me. I do like it, and I think I get it, but what I really want to know is: is there actually a scorpian who stings his mother; are the townspeople the true evil ones; Whats the 2nd stanza (the mother’s quote) about?
ArchDall · 24 February 2005
Just in case he tries to read this. Stop cheating Richard Kirsh and do some work for a change. All my love
Archie
Barry Mair · 29 May 2005
I thought the poem was amazing it showed that when someone you love is in pain you’ll try every thing u can to help even if u think its not true ‘‘My father sceptic, rationalist. trying every curse and blessing.’’ I loved it.
Pallavi Paul · 28 January 2006
this poem by Ezekiel was written in about ten minutes ,it is interesting in many ways if one notices it is him revisiting a past experience. The complex play of memory is used by combining the innocent fear of a child with an adult’s understanding of a situation.the narration of the event is extremely dispassionate and objective.humour and irony have been used to show how the scorpion who actually is the victim turns into the aggressor and then back to a victim when he is forced to brave the rain ,the peasant’s blind superstition is placed against the father’s rational and reasoning tendencies by Ezekiel to critique some superstitions in society.
HJames · 17 July 2006
Its crap!!
S.Ananth George · 24 August 2006
Hey booby!
I found ur review of niisim ezikel”s poem,( The night of the scorpion) and found that u r actually a student and that u r trying to make a project on it.Hve you got any information about the poem yet? Incase you hav got any information bout this poem then let me know because even I have been asked by my teacher to do a project on this poem and I am in a fix i dont actually know what to do. So i will really will be happy if u will be of any help. I will be eagerly looking forward for your reply.
with regards,
Paul Willis
Fishysardine · 7 November 2006
All i see in this poem is the child’s piont of view and the repetetive annoyingness of the words “they said” but overall the poem is ok. And if the father loved her so much then Why did he set her alight?!
Samuel W. Reardon-Smith · 14 November 2006
This poem is crap and would rather castrate myself than do this!!!
Poorna Kumar · 23 November 2006
this is a great poem…nissim izekiel is an indian jewish poet and all the lines about “the sum of good against evil” are what indian peasants chant to drive away the poison of the scorpion..these are indian rural mysticisms. this poem’s all about the hardships and superstitions of rural india and tells of how a mother will be happy about anything if her children are safe. some lines are the incantations of priests and it’s all about indian beliefs like rebirth. the poet brings the thing alive with his descriptions like “the sun baked walls” which are the mud walls of village homes. i love the poem! i mean the mum has her toes on fire at one point and she is still so selfless…
Christain3 · 15 September 2007
help !! im in year 11 doing this poem for my G.C.S.E course work and i need to describe the house including its surroundings but i dont no where to start get back to me please on
() thankx