Reflections (Reflexiones)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely

Prison forced me to think quite a lot about my political past and my total commitment to an ideological cause, and its consequences.

In this song (composed in the Puchuncaví Detention Camp and only sung for my friends and cellmates) I reflect on my role as a prisoner songwriter.


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Published on: 22 June 2015


Among all I see
what pains me most
is to gaze on a sad brother
without love and peace.
And my fleeting mind
like the flight of a sparrow
cries because it no longer flies
and has no consolation.

Who could give strength
to my voice that has no solution?
Who can make a statement
a vision for what is better?
The damaged tree suffers
and I suffer from my pain
the human tires not
he has a dry heart.

The bird is in a cage
the fish is in a net
an onlooker gazes out
but his eyes no longer see.
I think the human being
becomes used to the wall
forgot the dreams dreamed
forgot loving to love.

Where are thoughts born
where does reason die
that’s where dreams will unite
like glass tops.
To the lion by his growl
to the flower by its colour
the poet moulding his song
verse by verse.

Today the man sings to the woman
the servant sings to his master
Who understands what I say
and makes a fair distinction?
It is not the same a lover
as an engulfed labourer
although the song is the same
one is alive, the other not.

The time that comes and passes not
a dead shadow in a corner.
A singer alone with his song
a wheel falling off.
Nobody will tie your hands
nobody will breathe a proclamation
nobody violates your silence
no one refines their voice.