Indian Weavers

In this short three-stanza poem, Sarojini Naidu uses the image of weavers weaving cloth at three different times of the day to represent the three stages of human life, birth, youth (marriage) and death. In the first stanza, at break of day, the weavers weave a garment 'blue as the wing of a halcyon wild', the robes of a new-born child, linking morning with birth. In the second stanza, at fall of night, they weave a bright garment 'like the plumes of a peacock, purple and green', the marriage veils of a queen, linking evening with youth and marriage. In the third stanza, weaving 'solemn and still' in the moonlight chill, they weave something 'white as a feather and white as a cloud', a dead man's funeral shroud, linking midnight with death. Through the changing colours and times, the poem beautifully compares the journey of life to the weaving of cloth and to the passing of a single day, and celebrates the diversity of colours associated with different occasions in Indian culture.