Question

What is the meaning of the line “Both wry with the laboured ease of loss”.

Answer 1

The context of the above lines is the mother’s recollection of her childhood days and the poet’s recollection of her mother’s laughing face.

The mother has fond memories of her past but there is a sense of loss in recalling those moments as they make her realise that the good old times of her childhood will never come back. For the poet, the ‘loss’ refers to the loss of her mother. She has fond memories of her dead mother but she misses her laughter and her presence that will never return to the poet. Thus, both remember their pasts with a laugh that conceals sadness as none can re-live those lost moments.