Unsung Heroes185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVF4l39PnMm
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32YLZtgAAA
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGCYI2FBOM
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7qdOtia6u
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvOPSFUUKD
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl2PXp4Q27o
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8e7zRRpkH
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8NxyFL8JU
Your crime was literacy,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMWdawEJbF
And the possession of a social conscience,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8J3TicNbS1
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWKwi9EIQs
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pnwcK2UlQ
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuaKRGptO03
You did not bear arms,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7yOhhQVQKU
For you abhorred all violence,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyxIrmLlw8
You did not incite rebellion, though you185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDno2jykDm
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpo2FuiwJ0
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNGXDxssIU
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSE3CHwnrI
In a time of darkness,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhYN592uQq
Clung passionately to the belief,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcWxzKmfa0
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4fS3XuYls
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZ0bTIvTtM
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6mBH3G1hp
And translated news from American and British newspapers,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLNljWWYB2
About the gathering storm,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjf6ETqakaE
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKTgQb6x0E
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwfxxgla0s
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7191c1mw3
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhhf1rGtZS
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdMF6LerHr
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUsAMOmBpt
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqZNFfJFFl
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxf4DgYgTMB
And you refused to leave them to their fate.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFxfIbMUHn
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIMk1a9urS
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JhT9GNBs7
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbru01LejrM
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnlgqKpCL7
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3mbQBg6coN
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLM1CBZZnK
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSHTq25mIS
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLhMfzyEe2
You endured, God knows what there, for months,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyu0nxZEpqQ
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyPG8rOPXF
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHRLLu946N
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf70QnPXYkk
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8o68Hnqepq
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISL30mmaWD
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWudEPOcGp
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgQSPAZ2nI
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtvxiORlD3
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6BR9LzEli
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Rsn73cvXd
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZg1lbts1rS
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHenEKnvfeJ
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1io54xFlgo
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIb6cHw4qAX
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yz3EVnj2V
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeyfVo8LBZ
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLindiD18qg
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAPCHGdq1l
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyY6R3bmkn
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7d48SAsnA
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqq2Vf1zAvp
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBgAd22QU6
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKleyOEohy
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG07DcSbyxg
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8GkDbKFMH
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh145XGt3AH
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXp4qS5z35
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9HWLGj95h
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKfskPWQdr1
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Qn9Mx9Beg
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0d8NaG7JOj
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sGXH35Bra
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3O75LRlu1V
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu33IbuBnCt
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5rUUwBCaG
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjaQhojbnr
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXo94uNfVp
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuW2UPaFp6g
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVKQmzl31B
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5luXf2WFC
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8CEpRt9xQ
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvGU1uAUV6
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1MfJXH8de
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CymrRFXFi
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpazscHffy
Though not freed of her chains.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzNwR8z6vU
You were spared the war’s aftermath.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4N0wZjtSX
Your wife and children were not.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8YBGkcPWz
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlv79dfGz4v
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqvy6HJGv1
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMZj4Z8OU5
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPW9zkEojd
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxaMSgTf4z9
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJEls78dvhY
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVZwUlncFv
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLEix74OWE
Broken heart,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZUXuE0ORW
Now rest in peace.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46zq4fiCas
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVfUC8mUgq
Author's Note: You can hear my reading of this poem free on Spotify at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1AOXDwsNKke4AzCnr8gl3c?si=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3kQDA27J2

From: Of Pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems (Vol. 1)