‘Night of the Scorpion’ is written by Nissim Ezekiel, a foundational figure of Indian English poetry. Its theme is the selfless love of a mother, set against the superstitions of village life. The poet recalls a rainy night in his childhood when his mother was stung by a scorpion; the peasants crowd in, chant and search, his rationalist father tries every remedy, a holy man performs rites, and after twenty hours the mother recovers, thanking God that her children were spared.
The poem is a narrative in free verse, told in the first person, with lines of irregular length and no rhyme scheme. It uses a simile (‘like swarms of flies’), metaphor (‘the Evil One’), onomatopoeia (‘buzzed’, ‘clicked’), repetition of ‘they said’, and vivid imagery. The language is simple and conversational. I like the poem because it gently mocks blind belief while ending on a moving note of a mother’s unconditional love.