Politics and families

Many prisoners feel guilty about the trouble they have caused their families by taking up politics. .................., the whole family comes under increased surveillance and sometimes harassment. Some political prisoners feel so guilty that they encourage their wives and girlfriends to break up with them so that their lives will not also be destroyed. One political prisoner who felt this way wrote a song about it and sang it for me when I interviewed him several years later.

Released Maiden

A miserable wild night in a storm,
without a chance to meet a sunbema.
There is still turbulent, heavy rain everywhere.
It is time for us to part.
Take this white scarf, darling,
as my gift to keep you company.
And tie up your loose hair with it.

Please try to comprehend
the meaning of my gift, a white scarf.
And encourage yourself
to pass through the sea of life.
Don’t worry for me.
My white scarf will help you
to tie up your loose hair.
Feel free and leave tenderly from my shore.

Feel free darling,
Feel free darling,
Leave tenderly from my shore.


Extracted from “Living Silence” by Christina Fink. Chapter 8 - Prison