I saw your mother

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I saw your mother

• By Jeremy Cronin

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Jeremy Cronin
Jeremy Cronin was a member of the South African
Communist party. He was arrested and send to
jail. He spend some time on Robben Island. This
poem is about his wifes death while he was in
prison.
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I saw your mother With two guards
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Through a glass plate for one quarter hour on the
day that you died
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Extra visit, special favour I was told, and
warned The visit will be stopped if politics is
discussed.
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Verstaan understand!? on the day that you died
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I couldnt place my arm around her, around your
mother when she sobbed
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Fifteen minutes up I was led back to the workshop.
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Your death, my wife, one crime they managed not
to perpetrate on the day that you died.
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I saw your mother With two guards
Jeremy is talking to his wife. He tells his wife
that he saw her mother in prison. She was between
two guards. This old lady needed the presence of
two guards. It gives you a sense of how strict
they were at the prison and that the Apartheid
government trusted no one.
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Through a glass plate for one quarter hour on the
day that you died
He tells his wife that he saw his mother-in-law
through the glass plate that was normally between
visitors and prisoners. He could only see her for
15 minutes. Normally you were allowed one visit
per month for half an hour. He wont forget it,
because it was on the day that his wife died
according to him.
15 minutes
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This extra visit is a special favour. The moment
you talk about politics it will be
stopped. Verstaan Understand!?
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Extra visit, special favour I was told, and
warned The visit will be stopped if politics is
discussed.
Extra visit prisoners were only allowed one
visit per month for half an hour. This visit was
not one that Jeremy Cronin expected. Special
favour The prison authorities make it clear to
the poet that they are doing him a favour by
allowing this visit. This is almost sarcasm
because the news that the poet is going to
receive will take everything special out of this
visit. The visit will be stopped if they
discussed politics They were all political
prisoners. All their conversations and
correspondence with the outside world were
meticulously monitored. The idea of keeping the
people in prison were to get them away from
organising or taking part in political events.
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Verstaan understand!? on the day that you died
Verstaan understand!? Afrikaans is used
because Afrikaans was labelled as the language of
the opressor. It is therefore suitable that the
prison guard would speak the language of the
government he works for. The word Verstaan
also places the poem in context. You know that
the poem is set in South Africa. Because the
language is Afrikaans and used by the prison
guard you may freely assume that the action takes
place during the Apartheid years. This is
confirmed by the fact that politics may not be
discussed. Note the repetition of the line on
the day that you died. This emphasises how
horrible the news was for the poet.
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I couldnt place my arm around her, around your
mother when she sobbed
His mother-in-law came to inform him about her
daughters death. She was sad and cried.
Ironically the poet wants to comfort his
mother-in-law. He should be the one to be
comforted because he hears the news for the first
time. He could not place his arm around his
mother-in-law because there was a window between
them. The poet does not inform us about his
feelings.
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Fifteen minutes up I was led back to the workshop.
Despite the horrible news he received, the prison
authorities stuck to exactly fifteen minutes. He
was led back to the workshop after he received
the news.
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Your death, my wife, one crime they managed not
to perpetrate on the day that you died.
He makes a statement at the end of the poem. He
can not blame the government for his wifes
death. Although the government committed many
crimes against the people of South Africa, the
government did not kill his wife. You can
however feel bitter about the way this situation
was handled by the prison authorities. This is
implied. The repetition of on the day that you
died is ironic. This was not the day his wife
died. He only received news of her death on this
day but for him it became the day that she died.
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How did your wife die, Jeremy? Jeremy My wife
died of a brain tumour. I was sentenced in
September of 76, so I was entitled to a
half-hour visit once a month, and I saw Anne
Marie for about 4 or 5 months and then
apparently she thought she was having a nervous
breakdown, so she became quite disorientated and
was having splitting headaches and so forth and
was diagnosed as having a brain tumour, which I
didnt know about, because we hadnt met, and the
first I knew was when her mother came in to say
she was going in for an operation and she
basically didnt survive the operation. So that
was in March of 77, so it was very early on into
the sentence. It was obviously very traumatic.