What does the poet notice about her mother during the drive?

In the poem My Mother at Sixty-six, the poet Kamala Das observes her mother during a car ride. She notices her mother’s pale, ashen face and realizes that age has drained the vitality from her. Her mother sits quietly, dozing, with a face that appears “as old as she looked like a corpse.” The sight stirs a deep sadness in the poet, reminding her of her mother’s inevitable mortality. This image symbolizes the fragility of life and the painful realization of separation that comes with aging.