My Mother At Sixty Six

Central Idea

In this poem, the poet relates a personal experience. She brings out a common paradox of human relationships and portrays a sensational separation of a mother and a daughter. She has been able to capture almost all the emotions which a daughter is filled with, on bidding farewell to her beloved mother. Sometimes we do feel deep sympathy for someone but we fail to express it in a proper manner.

Aging is an important phase of human life. A person enters his childhood, experiences youth when he is full of energy and dreams to have luxury of life. Finally, he approaches his old age and encounters death. Relationship between people becomes stronger at every aspect of life and they can’t bear separation due to aging.

Driving from my parent’s home

To Cochin last Friday morning,

I saw my mother beside me.

The poetess explains that once when she visited her parent’s house in Cochin. It was a Friday when she was driving back to the airport, her mother was sitting beside her at the back of the car. The poet looked at her mother.

She saw that her mother was sleeping and her mouth was open. She further explains

that the colour of her mother’s face was like that of ash. (This means that there was

some smoky appearance on her face). She looked like a dead body.

doze, open mouthed, her face ashen like that

of a corpse and realised with pain

The poetess realized that her mother had grown old. She felt pain for her. But soon she tried to get rid of this sad thought by diverting her thoughts towards the trees outside. The young trees although stationary seemed to be running very fast as though they were sprinting. She also saw children running out of their houses, into the playground. All these things were full of life and energy, contrary to her mother who sat next to her.

that she was as old as she looked but soon

put that thought away, and looked out at Young

Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling out of their homes,

The poet continues that when she reached the airport, she finished with the security check and stood a few yards away from her mother. She noticed her mother’s ageing face which looked so dull, weak and pale.

but after the airport’s

security check, standing a few yards

away, I looked again at her, wan, pale

The poet compares her mother to a late winter’s moon as the moon in winters is not shiny and even her mother’s face had also lost her youth and shine. As her mother was getting older and weak.The poet feels the fear of separation just as she used to feel during her childhood. As a child, she could not bear the pain of separating from her mother. But now as her mother has grown old and is about to die, the poet feels that may be this is the last time that she is seeing her mother. She tries to hide her fear. She then says that she would soon see her mother again. She says so because she doesn’t want to lose her mother.

as a late winter’s moon and felt that old

familiar ache, my childhood’s fear, but all I said was, see you soon,

Amma, all I did was smile and smile and smile......

Rhyme Scheme

Simile

Metaphor

Repetition

Imagery

Assonance

Personification