Taming The Beast
The man is standing on a wooden box. He is wearing a military uniform and a black beret that matches his beard and his hair, flowing unruly just above his shoulder.
He reminds me of someone, some face on a poster. Yes. Of course…
Cigar dangling from his mouth, he moves too much and frowns too much to be one of the many live statues of the road. Every few seconds, a tourist stops to give him a quick glance before rushing away, intimidated by his angry shouting in a language that most do not understand. Some laugh, some wonder, others simply walk on.
I stand to his right, and take a picture from what seems to be a safe distance. Seems being the operative word here.
His eyes are now piercing me. He’s shouting at me.
I try not to look directly at him, I try not to be rude, I try to get away from this by mumbling something about not speaking his language, but there’s no stopping him now. Breathe. I take my chance and look him in the eye.
“Do you know who I’m supposed to be?”, he asks.
“Che…?”
“Do you know who Che is?”
“Yes”
“Where was he born?”
“Argentina”
“What was his profession?”
“Doctor”
Every answer spreads calm on his face until his frown is no longer there. His voice is soft. He tells me a story i don’t understand. He asks where I’m from and though I can see he doesn’t know where the place is, he declares us allies.
“Good people” he struggles in a language I do understand.
He smiles, we say our goodbyes and I move on. Next time, I’m singing him a song.
What a strange post.
“he declares us allies” is what caught me off topic. Perhaps suggesting that the alliance between countries is nothing more but a mere empathy with each other? -I think not. It’s a selfish bond of boundaries and expectations with a return date.
Right now you’re singing a song to Che. Next, you’ll be trying to escape his cruelty exhibited in the frown.
I am aware that the post is allegory.
hmmm, i wasn’t aware actually. it’s interesting to see how words are interpreted differently by different people. Maybe that says “bad writing”, then again maybe not. :)
Quite interesting.
merci