The poem describes memories of the speaker's mother through images of nature. It recalls her youth and beauty represented by the silk and white petals of a blackbone tree. It also remembers her running through the rain to comfort crying children. The final lines depict the speaker's tongue sticking to bark as they see their mother's aged hands slowly flexing to pick up a single grain of rice, representing her fragility over time.
The poem describes memories of the speaker's mother through images of nature. It recalls her youth and beauty represented by the silk and white petals of a blackbone tree. It also remembers her running through the rain to comfort crying children. The final lines depict the speaker's tongue sticking to bark as they see their mother's aged hands slowly flexing to pick up a single grain of rice, representing her fragility over time.
The poem describes memories of the speaker's mother through images of nature. It recalls her youth and beauty represented by the silk and white petals of a blackbone tree. It also remembers her running through the rain to comfort crying children. The final lines depict the speaker's tongue sticking to bark as they see their mother's aged hands slowly flexing to pick up a single grain of rice, representing her fragility over time.