Our friends
Cantos Cautivos
The Man Who Transformed into an Animal (El hombre que se convirtió en animal)
Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
I wrote this song shortly after reading Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, one of the books that circulated in Camp Melinka from hand to hand and cabin to cabin.
I presume I don’t have to explain who is the one experiencing the metamorphosis here.
Due to security considerations, these verses were only sung in a low voice and before a selected audience of political prisoners.
Tags:
Published on: 23 September 2015
of the example of a servile being
the owner of his garments but not his mind.
A despicable, obedient biped
who sickened craving power
despite his suffering
but sobbed like a madman
because he couldn’t be brave
living in a subjugated skin.
Then he grew a fierce fang,
claws grew out of each limb
and with them, he dug a lair in the dirt.
Finally, the beast in him was born.
His hunger became so voracious
His cruelty knew no bounds
And his brain was a stomach
a tomb for all fantasy
a prison of imagination.
After three years of training
He decided to fulfil his greatest aspiration,
Attack the home of the regent
who was a sharp and eloquent man.
He readied the battalion
cleaned the cannon barrel
and ordered the troops to fire
while he shined the boot
that he would wear as a dictator.
And as of that moment
No one could save that man
from going down into the animal’s den
where he ended up
just like his ancestor.
Testimonies from the Cantos Cautivos platform can be cited and shared as long as they are attributed (including the author, our project’s name and URL), for non-commercial purposes and without modifications, as per the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Authorisation is required for 1) any reuse different from citations and sharing via the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license of the platform data and its associated metadata, and 2) any use in events, concerts, plays, films, etc., of musical works written or recorded by project participants. To that end, we request that you send a proposal at least one month in advance to contact@cantoscautivos.org. For uses of musical works written or recorded by people outside the project, please contact copyright holders.