I saw your mother by Jeremy Cronin

1. I saw your mother
2. with two guards
3. through a glass plate
4. for one quarter hour
5. on the day that you died

6. ‘Extra visit, special favour’
7. I was told, and warned
8. “The visit will be stopped
9. if politics is discussed.
10. Verstaan – understand!?’

11. on the day that you died
12. I couldn’t place
13. my arm around her,
14. around your mother
15. when she sobbed

16. Fifteen minutes up
17. I was led
18. back to the workshop
19. Your death, my wife,
20. one crime they managed
21. not to perpetrate
22. on the day that you died

(Jeremy Cronin is a member of the South African Communist Party. He was arrested and send to jail. He spent some time on Robben Island. This poem is about his wife’s death while he was in prison.)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Cronin