A Song for Orlando and Reina

Orlando Zapata Tamayo

Friday, February 18, five days short of marking one year since Orlando Zapata Tamayo died on February 23, 2010 after seven years of psychological and physical torture at the hands of agents of the dictatorship in Cuba, his mother Reina Luisa Tamayo was physically assaulted and detained by the same regime that murdered her son because, according to the police for "lack of respect" for them.

Reina Luisa Tamayo Danger

The words of the song below originally released in 1982 sadly seem especially relevant today in Cuba. A hymn for Cuba's prisoners of conscience. A song for Orlando and Reina.

WallFlower (1982)
by Peter Gabriel

6x6 from wall to wall
Shutters on the windows, no light at all
Damp on the floor you got damp in the bed
They're trying to get you crazy - get you out of your head
And they feed you scraps and they feed you lies
To lower your defences, no compromise
Nothing you can do, the day can be long
Your mind is working overtime, your body's not too strong

Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
They put you in a box so you can't get heard
Let your spirit stay unbroken, may you not be deterred

Hold on, you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with bullets, bars and stone
They do not see the road to freedom
That you build with flesh and bone

They take you out and the light burns your eyes
To the talking room - it's no surprise
Loaded questions from clean white coats
Their eyes are all as hidden as their Hippocratic Oath
They tell you how to behave, behave as their guest
You want to resist them, you do your best
They take you to your limits, they take you beyond
For all that they are doing there's no way to respond

Hold on, hold on
They put you in a box so you can't get heard
Let your spirit stay unbroken, may you not be deterred

Hold on, you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with bullets, bars and stone
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with flesh and bone

Though you may disappear, you're not forgotten here
And I will say to you, I will do what I can do
You may disappear, you're not forgotten here
And I will say to you, I will do what I can do
And I will do what I can do
And I will do what I can do