Unsung Heroes47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggRhD7E2mw
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdbllNqhXH
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIAjTyGOTD
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bxEQrl9O7
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjoNnkr2yp9
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODljHM9sH1
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7M3c9DkJs
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbBBXHjXtE
Your crime was literacy,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwbYqcEDxP
And the possession of a social conscience,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAhTeHlk2t
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhG7OtXoRt
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQ0lPjoNwc
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgHbghQvQm
You did not bear arms,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5OQRrg3st
For you abhorred all violence,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiu8cwbXzW
You did not incite rebellion, though you47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLr1YCQMPl2
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQBXrzNKpi
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcfUC5mVnP
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0p2aVuwEb
In a time of darkness,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxqMkOZl3t
Clung passionately to the belief,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojx2MH6TPT
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FejIM8kMP
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapFuXtvR8z
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gpSJ2wWKt
And translated news from American and British newspapers,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWq5pGtwBMQ
About the gathering storm,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwl7Jiogm8R
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbC6Z50ZuS
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAniWhLf4MQ
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHWkzmSGBz
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LxP512N6g
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBBVwMrhmO
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7pdDAp3E2
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaC7rib4yP
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1eqhU8NPW8
And you refused to leave them to their fate.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUGmKvWs5r
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdw4bymw5a
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7d8wXQizhh
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQN6WIgp3yf
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuKmXdTpti
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQ8YxATtYM
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIwTJeVZk9
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtp79lL1HoI
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLziwUQdRu
You endured, God knows what there, for months,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3CafjuByC
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIsrKCPfX3
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdD9JFpEVq
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLt3qwHtmh
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaISVtAyrH
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkoZEJvW8g
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2AcOzbczh
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMSIEYzUeY2
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5rwuWlQRM
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy5chM3uDZ
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt2a1uXOIz
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynbJd7aD8c
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn63UlozvsT
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWH2pFg26O
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9F0G7x7ZyG
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJa7lrZ2oEW
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxhol86aDJ
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCg67hl2YW
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVQraJYKQQ
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreCKbHDpXn
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjXrpoiBkP
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2bdRVJOHf
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabvbSM0akU
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2odKUPzxR
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdS8fmWsnNX
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHww9MXRYym
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxlOgzYcaY9
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzKArZoydU
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzs8YpXuxbO
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3fzVZprnM
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPA17IUmcI5
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyriZz81vVH
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzM7xtQcGK
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf87OiKUTpJ
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFfDG70EoJ
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeA6oqQ3pe9
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7JOdJrqt8
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs31PsfGSjn
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOvBITxUpY
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvahXJs9yZ
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThzhGR73aa
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgqkcFoPel
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlveILIdQ4q
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQIMIFu5AF
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjee6evBv2g
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPTNVBsttF
Though not freed of her chains.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡicycGIgwe3
You were spared the war’s aftermath.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1ljgHIRdK
Your wife and children were not.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ605DZcRHtX
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYowNaahsM
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiW19wyfSPa
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72p0xgxiEX
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykJv7i8Cnk
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9zOqRp7HV
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzibhtHk66w
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0OIZtCpwT
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XrgVfbs7A
Broken heart,47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKecIZPsQ8
Now rest in peace.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRVUQMzN2D
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8PK9jtX4B
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwFse98gOn

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