I Cannot Remember My Mother

Read the poem in your book on page 127. It is by Rabindranath Tagore, written in the voice of a child. Each of its three stanzas begins with the same line: the speaker cannot remember his mother. Yet each stanza brings her back through one sense.

Stanza 1, hearing. Sometimes, while he plays, a tune seems to hover over his toys: the song she used to hum while rocking his cradle. (Think of a lullaby you still remember from when you were small.)

Stanza 2, smell. On early autumn mornings (sharad, when the shiuli blooms), the smell of the shiuli flowers and the scent of the morning service at the temple come to him as her scent. (Like knowing a smell from your own kitchen anywhere.)

Stanza 3, sight. From his bedroom window he looks into the blue of the distant sky, and feels the stillness of her gaze on his face spread all over the sky.

Key words: hover (linger near), hum (sing with closed lips), cradle (a baby's bed), shiuli (coral jasmine, which blooms at night and falls at dawn), morning service (temple rituals), gaze (a long, steady, loving look).