Song of the Disappeared (Canción del desaparecido)

Music piece by:
Sergio Vesely
Testimony by:
Sergio Vesely
Experience in:
Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976

Several of my friends and comrades disappeared after being arrested. The dictatorship denied knowledge of their whereabouts but I knew they were lying.

Many of these people had been in prison with me in the dungeons of Villa Grimaldi. This song was sung in a cell of Valparaíso Jail with one comrade keeping watch next to the door in case a prison guard approached.


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Published on: 23 September 2015

I’ve begun this song
upon hearing, in fright, an ill-fated scream.
The cruel beast that I detest
lashes the mind of an innocent man.

He finds refuge in the world
of his violated silence
while the raging blow
perforates his love.

I myself have been a witness
of what I am talking about and I can prove it.
The same soldier who imprisoned me
had his fill of torturing him.

It will be plain for the world to see
when the killer smugly
tells us in a self-assured tone
“my hands are clean”.

They will publish in the paper
that this prisoner lives with the guerrilla.
Yesterday I saw him on the "grill"
his hands bound, his legs burned.

They will kill him without killing him
they will wipe him off this world.
The sad ones will bury him
the just will hate deeply.

Even if the body buried by dangerous claws
rests in the earth
no piercing spear
will wound the ideals of the libertarian.

He will remain in this world
lighting up the path.
The thoughts of the dying man
will not be forgotten, comrade.

The bitterness of this moment
became a wail in this throat.
Sadness is a plant
that grows in every man until it blossoms.

So this world blossoms
with the pain of the lost ones
with the fertile battles
for the disappeared.



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.

  • 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.

  • Song of a Middle-Class Man (Canción de un hombre medio)  Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976

    In our political discussions, we always spoke disdainfully of the middle class. In the view of the Marxist ideologues in prison, that sector of society supported the dictatorship and it was necessary to reverse that trend.

  • How Can I Describe This to You? (Cómo hacer para darte una idea)  Sergio Vesely, Cárcel de Valparaíso, 1976

    This is one of two songs I wrote in prison for my beloved Graciela. In the song I tried to draw her closer to me, describing my everyday world and my experience of life as a captive.

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