Filled with pathos and poignancy, these lines exhibit a deserted mother’s agony and indignation. The old woman’s biggest grief is that her two sons, Polin and Manuai, are not by her side while she lies on her deathbed.
It seems that her sons have deserted her. Forlorn and wistful, she is sending them a message exhorting them to come back and see her. Her only wish is to have her sons beside her before she breathes her last.
She doesn’t long for any material wealth or worldly luxury from her sons. She only needs them. She has always loved them and cared for them; a little love and care is what she expects from them in return.
When she says, “Let them keep the price of their labour,” she wants to make it clear to them that she doesn’t need their money. If they believe that she wishes them to spend their money on her and help her financially, they are completely wrong. She doesn’t expect any monetary favors from them.
When she says “their eyes are mine,” she reminds them that they are her sons. It is she who gave birth to them. They owe not just their eyes, but their existence to her. Can they really ever pay her back for what she's given them?
Actually, the old woman is indignant at her apathetic children. She is grieved because she has to send them a message reminding them that their mother has become very old and is about to die, and that because she is their mother, they ought to come and see her.
So, we see that this poem is narrated by a dying old woman who longs to see her uncaring sons even though she is disappointed in them.
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