In Memory of My Mother-By: Sonia Weitz

My Humanities was given three poems, all by the same woman and linked to the same experiences she had in the many different Concentration Camps she had been sent to during who lifeline. She was around when Hitler was, and she was Jewish. Because words can't really explain what she felt there, for there are no words to describe how horrible it is, she communicated some of her experiences in poems. Out of the three poems we were given, one really stuck out for me. That poem was called In Memory of My Mother. As you can tell from the title, it is about her mom, so just looking at it you will be able to tell that she probably talks about something she experienced with her mother.

To me, throughout this poem it was sad, the mood didn't really change. Though I did notice something, the poem felt like words trying to get out, yet the words couldn't really be explained. So the message was hard to get out, she was a young girl, she couldn't explain the happenings and why they really happened. This phrase of the poem really says a lot, it's the first phrase and you can already begin to decipher this as being a emotional poem.

Where is your grave?

Where did you die?

Wy did you go away?

Why did you leave

Your little girl

That rainy autumn day?

That was the first phrase, and it was the part that really popped out for me. Why you ask? Well, even when I just started this poem, and don't laugh at me because I'm a very emotional person, it's just I already felt pain and I kind of felt like crying. But of course I couldn't, because I was in class and everyone would just stare at me and/or laugh. Either way it made me feel like crying. Reading on I realized it was best for me not to cry, because she didn't cry when this had actually occurred to her. At one point she says'

I suffered, but

I didn't cry:

The pain so fierce, so deep...

It pierced my heart and squeezed it dry.

And then, I fell asleep.

See how she didn't cry? I'm not really experiencing it, so I shouldn't cry. But just the way she lets her words flow in the poem really makes it touching. I can easily imagine her mother, that rainy autumn day. The day sound and cloudy, the mother beautiful and comforting. One thing that Sonia Weitz uses to describe her mother is this simple simile she used.

Your eyes as green

As emeralds

Were quiet and so mild.

I can imagine these eyes looking at me, them being quiet and mild makes me imagine her as comforting to Sonia right now, giving her the impression that everything will be all right even though things are indeed not going to be all right. But they didn't know that at the time now did they? Another part that really describes her mom is these few lines,

I still can hear

The words you spoke:

"You tell the world, my child."

The fact she can remember the last words her mother ever said to her is really something special.

Now the last sentence of the poem is really something,

On No!... it can't be told."

To me this is saying that the story can't go on, because there aren't any words to describe the feelings she felts, the atrocious things that happened. They might as well not even be mentioned.

I find it hard to connect to this poem in an experience I've actually been through, because I've never actually been through something so devastating. The only way I can connect with this is by imagining myself in Sonia's shoes, you see, this is impossible. Considering I wasn't actually there, I can never feel her exact pain, but I can imagine it. My tears dried up as I fall into a agonized sleep, the nightmare of the screams and shouts. Imagining words whispering help in my ear. The gloomy day of which my mother was taken away from me. But there is one thing I can't imagine in this poem, and that is the special item.

You pressed something

into my palm...

And then... then you were gone.

No matter how hard I try I can't imagine what her mother had given to her on her leaving, but I'm guessing it was something special, something meaningful to her mother. That begs the question, does Sonia remember what this item was? Does she still have it? I can't even begin to think of it, for I do not know her mother and her values. But I can always imagine.

In Memory of My Mother.

Where is your grave?

Where did you die?

Why did you go away?

Why did you leave

You litte girl

That rainy autumn day?

I still can hear

The words you spoke:

"You tell the world, my child."

You eyes as green

As emeralds

Were quiet and so mild.

You held my hand

You face was white

And silent like a stone,

You pressed something

Into my palm...

And then...then you were gone.

I suffered, but

I didn't cry:

The pain so fierce, so deep...

It pierced my heart

And squeezed it dry.

And then, I fell asleep.

Asleep in agony

And dreams...

A nightmare that was true...

I heard the shots,

The screams that came

From us, from me and you.

I promised I would

Tell the world...

But where to find the words

To speak of

Innocence and love,

And tell how much it hurts...

About those faces

Weak and pale,

Those dizzy eyes around,

And countless lips

That whispered "help"

But never made a sound...

To tell about

The loss...the grief,

The dread of death and cold,

Of wickedness

And misery...

O, No!...it can't be told.

Choosing this poem had been easy for me, for it was very emotional and to me it meant the most. Her words so fluent on the page, expressing her feelings. With this poem she finally did what her mother had asked. "You tell the world, my child." With this poem she did just that, she communicated to the world the many feelings and emotions of this point in history. The feelings and emotions that pierce the heart.