Unsung Heroes194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy2x8kbEdZ
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkANNfGPYd5
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUChyMprwT
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSAh4kXc3v
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4IZrbXQ34
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCUNTvscST
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7m2mtLcccr
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIs6eHGrRF
Your crime was literacy,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡua6WDp0H0Q
And the possession of a social conscience,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡar7U9OeiFh
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgBOlSq8Uq
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHqd4v9eLM
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUALVM0UzCs
You did not bear arms,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxOivI5J0x
For you abhorred all violence,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUThNtbdnJN
You did not incite rebellion, though you194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFYtuI34RC
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa68652DK85
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfe809LRzHl
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQc3AupsXpy
In a time of darkness,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpn7rz3o2UI
Clung passionately to the belief,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPB79RmZHG
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbfly2JmWs
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡha1GDfUf2X
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwG4hXCR5l
And translated news from American and British newspapers,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGpIOp7GnF
About the gathering storm,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tvDMxCgVI
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSD3jYa2P3Q
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPQm6ZdpB4
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRD1tscrPWe
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJctT4U5BF
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTR6Mc6lG5c
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4IWmHIXdyf
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9d4OIlPPZG
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhLo68deAE
And you refused to leave them to their fate.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNJULp6Yew
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHhVSABA90
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvmCsW7L7t
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniMDsQDLw5
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyX5ZH0H7XY
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGT2zGOPXMf
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmv761L3Lo3
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ01qZCuUokt
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyi6bPNmGtc
You endured, God knows what there, for months,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJU31ThsFM
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBKprsX6h1
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojt8FetLoq
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbhkI00gpA
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlbxbXEbu6
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXRMzfZTm3
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUX9krs6gk
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoctaJumrRD
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MhxQ1DMmN
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHot3cYncw
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDacqaxChn
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzf6PhrLrH
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLP51UakqsS
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqUs7a9TU1
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiY02nEsmcd
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WZYoGGV62
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRL11G4iMQw
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaq4dctj0o2
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvLpPUPsUy
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fbudymu7W
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhYPHtrxXd
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGI2iUxLJ3P
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUk73DOPRmR
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDuwKLfySLt
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTeFxBGn0m
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gagJ6BmVH
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLyrnTWBAxE
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17cZMGRq43
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewDSjz9gzp
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YUznJ90yh
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBA7FKtWz7i
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYNvitdeAH
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8EwKpAn6t
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk43KfZ2RQ4
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1nmDpfANl
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLu0jPNdJZJ
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDlFJHmyak
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2o1QJRAUwG
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCNU5mZAaf
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItxmFhh7jU
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSjwy35rWb
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VozTvOj6R
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRV5d9DWQko
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzA3oUaGY5
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHy2e041wgy
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGWT7SjYMF
Though not freed of her chains.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw23hTSyZ6C
You were spared the war’s aftermath.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQ3jlKf9wt
Your wife and children were not.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcgmjyz4jI
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJ78hJ17jM
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3I6Ktjc4J
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzJcS8Q5gG
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡctM2abfusC
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTE86jd8qSs
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxbgtMgek0
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4SZDVwrqg
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNdKiOrsov
Broken heart,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLo4eNHVNi
Now rest in peace.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BNSC3UpYV
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcE9QGGaGI
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57seuaTLzy

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