Mid-Afternoon Love (Amor de media tarde)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:

This song is dedicated to Graciela Navarro, who managed to make my prisoner's life more beautiful on the days we were allowed to receive visitors.

During the week, when the hourly monotony became unbearable, she would use her free moments to deliver roses and brief love letters for me at the prison gate.


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Published on: 23 September 2015

I have a mid-afternoon love
nestled in a jail backyard.
It’s my flesh and bone truth
woman’s body in the wind.

From two to four she comes to see me
then something flies to me from afar
a kiss, a word.
You are an open padlock
a bird with wings for me.

She a flower and I the gardener
she the free dove and I the nest.
She could have fled at the first shot
but she chose to be with me.

From two to four, playing with her hair
I weave a new dream
love, I love so much more.
You are an open padlock
a bird with wings for me.

From two to four the visit ends
she out into the world with my wheat
I back to the cell with her sheltering warmth
You are an open padlock
a bird with wings for me.




Related testimonies:

  • Lament for the Death of Augusto the Dog (Lamento a la muerte del perro Augusto)  Sergio Vesely, Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975

    Augusto the dog (not to be confused with the journalist Augusto Olivares, affectionately nicknamed 'Augusto the Dog', who was murdered in the Presidential Palace on 11 September 1973), was the mascot of the political prisoners held at the Ritoque concentration camp, and accompanied his master when the military junta decided to close that prison and transfer the inmates to the neighbouring Puchuncaví concentration camp.

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Luis Madariaga, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1974 - 1976

    In prison, we would sing the 'Ode to Joy' when a comrade was released or sent to exile.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

  • Today Was Visitors’ Day (Hoy fue día de visitas)  Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976

    Visitors’ day was an exceptional day that broke the monotonous routine of all the other days of the week.