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
The poet remembers a night when his mother was bitten by a scorpion.
It had been raining continuously for ten hours. Because of this heavy rain, the scorpion came inside the house and hid under a bag of rice.
After giving its poison through the sting, the scorpion quickly showed its dangerous tail in the dark room. Then it went back outside into the rain again.
When the villagers heard about the incident, they came quickly in large numbers, like a swarm of flies. They repeatedly took the name of God many times. They believed that by doing this, they could stop or control the evil power of the scorpion.
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.
These lines are from "Night of the Scorpion" by Nissim Ezekiel. They describe a night when the poet's mother is bitten by a scorpion in a rural village in India. The neighbors gather with candles and lanterns to search for the scorpion but fail to find it. They sit around the suffering mother and offer religious prayers and beliefs, hoping her pain will wash away her past and future sins.
The father, though a rational and non-religious man, tries every possible remedy — medicines, herbs, and even burns her toe with paraffin out of desperation. After twenty long hours of suffering, the poison finally loses its effect and the mother recovers.
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
These final lines bring the poem to a deeply moving close. After suffering through twenty hours of unbearable pain from the scorpion's sting, the first words the mother speaks are not about her own relief or suffering. Instead, she thanks God that the scorpion bit her and not her children. These simple lines reveal the pure and selfless love of a mother.
The poet recalls a specific night from his childhood when a scorpion bit his mother.
It had been raining continuously for ten hours. To escape the water, the scorpion hid inside the house under a rice sack.
The scorpion bit the mother, injecting poison quickly with its evil-looking tail in the dark. Then, it ran back out into the rain.
Villagers arrived in large groups (compared to flies). They chanted God's name repeatedly, believing it would stop the scorpion (the Evil One) from moving.
The poem presents a contrast between faith and reason. The villagers represent traditional religious belief — they accept the mother's suffering as something spiritually meaningful, believing it will cleanse her sins from past and future lives. Their repeated phrase "they said" shows how these beliefs are passed down as common wisdom, though they offer no real cure.
The father stands on the opposite side. He is called a "sceptic" and "rationalist," yet in his fear and helplessness, he too turns to every remedy available — even burning his wife's toe. This shows that when a loved one suffers, even a logical mind can act out of pure emotion and desperation.
The child narrator watches everything quietly, which gives the poem a deeply personal and honest tone. The poem does not judge either side — it simply shows how people respond to pain and fear in different ways.
These lines are the emotional heart of the entire poem. Throughout the poem, the neighbors prayed for the mother's spiritual purification and the father tried every cure in desperation. But the mother's response rises above all of that. She feels no bitterness, no complaint — only gratitude that her children were safe.
The word "only" is very important here. It suggests that this was all she said — no anger, no self-pity, just a single thought about her children. This simplicity makes her love feel even more powerful and genuine.
These lines also quietly contrast the mother with everyone else in the poem. The villagers spoke long prayers about sin and suffering. The father tried many desperate actions. But the mother, who suffered the most, spoke the least — and what she said was entirely for others. The poet ends the poem here on purpose, letting the mother's words speak louder than anything else. It is a beautiful and tender tribute to maternal love.