By Mike Sain't Louis ·
La empatía de la arpía, or how the wound gets learned
The title already has a catch. A harpy with empathy sounds like a contradiction, and it is. But there's a type of person who uses empathy as a tool for harm: they listen to you, understand you, learn your weak spots by heart... and then press right there.
La empatía de la arpía (The Harpy's Empathy) is built like a tale that repeats itself. Each verse starts with the same formula, «esta es la historia» (this is the story), as if it wanted to put it on file. And each time it adds a new detail to the portrait. The fake smile while inside they spit on you. The tenderness in their eyes while they betray you. The promise of refuge that turns out to be a room with no exit.
There's a line I think is one of the hardest I've written: they learned the whole wound so they could press where it hurt. That's exactly it. We're not talking about someone who hurts you without meaning to, but about someone who first wins your trust so they know exactly where to strike.
Time doesn't matter
I like how the song makes the years relative. Twenty, thirty or forty, it doesn't matter. The only thing that changes is whether it was two deceptions or ten thousand. And even so, that person keeps celebrating your birthday, stays in the photo, carries on as if nothing happened. If you fall ill because of them, it's your fault. And in the end you realise that, after so long, you're two strangers.
The ending is almost a lament. A long murmur and a phrase that comes back again and again: they didn't care when you cried. The repetition weighs, the way remembering all those times you needed someone and only found indifference weighs. It has something of old copla, of a quejío, a flamenco wail, that never ends.
I think of whoever has come out of a relationship, friendship or romantic, with someone who seemed to understand everything and was really just taking notes. For whoever still wonders how they didn't see it sooner. Listen to it calmly, without blaming yourself. The harpy was a very good actress, and that isn't your fault.
The full lyrics are below. Listen on Spotify
Lyrics · LA EMPATÍA DE LA ARPÍA
Esta es la historiaDe la empatía de la arpíaVeinte, treinta o cuarenta añosEso da igual, solo cambia si son dos o diez mil engañosEsta es la historiaDe la empatía de la arpíaY aún así celebra contigo el cumpleañosSi enfermas por su culpaNo importa, él te inculpaAunque le conozcas desde hace más de veinte añosEsta es la historia de dos extrañosEsta es la historiaDe la empatía de la arpíaDe la sonrisa que fingíaMientras por dentro te escupíaEsta es la historiaDe la empatía de la arpíaSe aprendió tu herida enteraPara apretar donde dolíaEsta es la historiaDe la empatía de la arpíaTe miraba con ternuraMientras por dentro te vendíaEsta es la historiaDe la empatía de la arpíaPrometía ser refugioY era una habitación sin salidaEsta es la historiaDe la empatía de la arpíaDe la sonrisa que fingíaMientras por dentro te escupíaEsta es la historiaDe la empatía de la arpíaSe aprendió tu herida enteraPara apretar donde dolíaMmmmmmmmmY le daba igual cuando llorabasMmmmmmmmmY le daba igual cuando llorabasMmmmmmmmmY le daba igual cuando llorabasMmmmmmmmmY le daba igual cuando llorabasMmmmmmmmmY le daba igual cuando llorabasMmmmmmmmmY le daba igual cuando llorabasMmmmmmmmmY le daba igual cuando llorabasMmmmmmmmmY le daba igual cuando llorabas
Lyrics as published with the official music video, on the MIKE SAIN'T LOUIS label.