Question

What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?

Answer 1

The emotional pain and ache that the poet feels is due to the realization that her mother has grown old. She has become frail and pale like a corpse. She is dependent on her children. The ache also refers to the childhood fear when the poet felt insecure without her mother. This sense of insecurity pervades and revisits the poet due to the mother’s old age and her approaching end.

Answer 2

As the poet leaves her parents' home, she notices her mother's pale face. To the poet, her mother's "ashen" complexion, lacking vitality and color, looks like that of a corpse.She sadly realizes that her mother has aged and is approaching the end of her life. These thoughts bring back memories of her childhood fears and worries about losing her mother.The thought of being apart from her mother troubles her deeply. Even when she smiles, it's a sign of her feeling helpless in the face of the unavoidable.