Cantos Cautivos
Captain, our Destiny is a Wandering Island (Capitán, el rumbo es una isla errante)
- Music piece by:Sergio Vesely
- Testimony by:Sergio Vesely
- Experience in:
This song was dedicated to Óscar Castro, whom I was lucky enough to meet in 1975, in Puchuncaví. With his experience in theatre – Óscar was already a fairly well-known actor before his arrest – he threw himself into the cultural work we had organised, in what was then called “Camp Melinka” where the prisoners presented a show every Friday.
Our friendship was brief but very intense. Several times, in the middle of a serious conversation he would disconnect and climb aboard an imaginary boat called El Supertricio and he would invite me to sail with him through the kingdom of his imagination. At such moments, I was able to forget that I was in prison.
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Published on: 23 September 2015
venerated by the waters
and by all the fauna of the sea.
A noble gentleman
adventure lover
a major commodore.
Who one night got lost
when raging wind
like the emperor’s roar
blew his ship
taking it off course
taking him to prison.
Full sail! Cast off!
The compass doesn’t mark north
the course is to a wandering island
captain.
Three days later the captain
poet of the seven seas
friend of freedom
reached a port without light.
His galleon was half tilted
the flag at half-mast.
And I told him: Captain
Wooden is your ship
Steel are your crew.
Better times will come
don’t loosen the sails
and steady the prow.
Full sail! Navigate!
The compass doesn’t mark north
we are headed to a wandering island
captain.
Related testimonies:
- The Black King (El rey negro) Sergio Vesely, Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, 1975
One cold winter night of 1975, the small clinic of Melinka, in the Puchuncaví Detention Camp, became the setting for a touching story.
- National Anthem of Chile Boris Chornik Aberbuch, Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, March 1975
The Puchuncaví detention camp’s daily routine included mandatory participation in the ceremonies of raising and taking down the Chilean flag on the flagpole at the entrance to the camp.
- Dreams of my Imprisonment (Sueños de mi encierro) Mario Patricio Cordero Cedraschi, Cárcel de Valparaíso, Winter of 1975
I’d spent two years in prison and there was no end in sight for my time in jail. I observed during visiting hours that many prisoners had children, a wife, family.
- 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.
- To Sing by Improvising (Pa’ cantar de un improviso) Claudio Enrique Durán Pardo (Kila Chico), Campamento de Prisioneros Melinka, Puchuncaví, June 1975
We made a Venezuelan cuatro from a large plank of wood attached to one of the walls of the "ranch" where we ate.
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