Unsung Heroes237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdB2YWj5PZu
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNxJQBFWmf
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWntAIGiNw
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcUr9Wb7yh
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XvdkFBP6y
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyKNmQAHQ7
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUkt3ohInYY
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4arU9RF77
Your crime was literacy,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHaAbHIgG4
And the possession of a social conscience,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8vjjjdYVQ
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62hwyqdvXx
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKeEHhcgZL
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRplZT0M6N
You did not bear arms,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLbg1cIZGD
For you abhorred all violence,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNWf5mOMTzN
You did not incite rebellion, though you237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8m98MzK3Z4
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrGnmsElml
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBp5ZOg1vY9
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhi5MuZz6NA
In a time of darkness,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6noI1oUmM
Clung passionately to the belief,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOI63OvqrH
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4pP4dR2UH
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9aw1pilnq
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjfOR3VDnN
And translated news from American and British newspapers,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uYNIgsZQl
About the gathering storm,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUT1C65QQa
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXxXQcmm93
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13bUuVZADk
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rYHq4arxV
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMp5fdWbKWI
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0Jf4hUBCs
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfiEt0ZvDR3
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKedbsihPkN
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjSay92r7M
And you refused to leave them to their fate.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xsLj6a7xE
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZnUINHr6d
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjy9oWcxysd
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTFeN6laeu
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpuTzDNVtN
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIg9QLQcwAd
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUxmqmDjbe
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1PK7ih6Mb
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7WOBua2mS
You endured, God knows what there, for months,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oWLiebGco
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrErz1dzpKR
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8DBsgeFDp
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GwYJmKFEo
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOvoscS0PR
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39t7Z40AnE
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsL8xKg22WA
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXdBfVhD00
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDWVlWvTQsP
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZZACCAwql
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBomTE91zqc
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExoOXZ3n0j
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7SzaA88CP
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXPIXMts6e
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtubSuje6h
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMI2klSktX
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1jbezP5dQ
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUatmqwbt4
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vg5j8MgVY
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITFqVp3IAC
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MZEeEjZZp
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLClntlVY4
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NE9SLQdRh
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQTG2SHsuv
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9UWxVUzmA
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCkt3MsvsP
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0w4GarrrIS
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLvWFbvOtYw
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2Edb7AYj9
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jZhFLiU0C
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡviPxsCRQDc
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCECeavztIk
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LrxjysF4t
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvFVWvCIUw
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMk93MqnmW
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkvtiOsA2Y
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpP1ryKM3P
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcldd62mfqp
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3lIKK606y
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3iQszlgu4
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2BxBJwc1k
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3dh0Y4Fhtj
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeNVwdQsRh
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9u79juhZJ
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdvSlJX60h
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcIo58DwOD
Though not freed of her chains.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVuq0o9V7W
You were spared the war’s aftermath.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwTn3CYbf2
Your wife and children were not.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7kxoiKKOD
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKygVPyGPw
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlirH8t0Sn3
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwknH8UuATm
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZIZrysh7A
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBqdZWvVX8
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEPGBxe8CJv
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBV4YXuncQl
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzb8xHRbtRm
Broken heart,237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzMt8zItPr
Now rest in peace.237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB26kV5MAbu
237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ753Z6CDDoM
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg237Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LUF7osm6G

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