Unsung Heroes144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsraYgLeifo
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBVAmUonoF
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEu6gfnxvr
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTFwuRT8OQ
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gbh5IJLeJ
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyYLofxJag
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfMwBMxFS9
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJhD05SbgH
Your crime was literacy,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbG9Jz4674B
And the possession of a social conscience,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUyO45F9pc
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTW5B3GViBu
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2SqXKXHcu
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9awtEUdfv
You did not bear arms,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEviGgufEma
For you abhorred all violence,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujrulPyqCY
You did not incite rebellion, though you144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNUfRXiRe8
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmb48y0BVE
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXghGTAWRr
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNtUFkVpeK
In a time of darkness,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwUNCnUP87
Clung passionately to the belief,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQS2rGsSOz
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmyBC4kPMHY
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pTU0MxncP
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGozDmLaoVv
And translated news from American and British newspapers,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6c7ruW54I
About the gathering storm,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYJJYr4WYn
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjVkzjYrQJ
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDqVN1dbfj
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEN0VEOvD5
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQHhg3lRqc
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlw73qVMcB
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUg7zPU7hA
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcv39gJnI0F
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85slfMlOSS
And you refused to leave them to their fate.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbkMxKJUUT
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVP5JnKFv4b
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuiwn17CVN
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPH9mLPLdE
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9ZW5UKAhR
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XzoBQrRdD
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0EwIqtb1N
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrNnmV7lge
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡctmZBSbzhy
You endured, God knows what there, for months,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXuEIWmoq8
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0DOJBxbfqc
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9ZbZWxQzb
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRRqebTjmV
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2W3eOl75u
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVW4VFqznq5
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOJyey5b6p
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDZfwQxjkR
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklYlwMdEgi
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhOdAzPesp
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ763x1Sl15A
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedcqCxJhKw
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVTNK70wgQ
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjz2nIabnLM
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQt9wnCnDJK
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LHGobCsqW
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgkA5jHL4s
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRrcKJysd1
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJozmMCxu2M
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjmppvXeql
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlrR6AQpoh
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8QfykhhPN
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29WkIpKq8P
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4aZoyQtRE
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbemZy4x9Wg
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdF0P2OLgdT
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEoIXqOqqV
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJNdVKnwUc
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ188uXZhgPR
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tqWIh8UWS
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cZ2mY14EV
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnhFZ7c5A7
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7SJzVYNLFV
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjeqQCW0fk
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGImYziQIL
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6gzcEWTAF
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRN66KKa4eU
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31MAvKlRSi
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanqJV4fxgH
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbujI2se8AY
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2bsbzBo0J
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡot12vZ6Fbu
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvaq1Rnk2A
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71V2g1tV4z
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlf69FAny0l
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgk9lEihRzo
Though not freed of her chains.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLtkBeqgeL
You were spared the war’s aftermath.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCHqy9JhzJ
Your wife and children were not.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2ohK8pdVf
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdmbxpyhiQ
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyDZKYeQzt
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXZNs79CjN
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVqCD2MhIB
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRHcuj0THH
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezMyZ4OsLO
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEl7hTzAQCe
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUc7zFQ6QX
Broken heart,144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6JJUqQI38
Now rest in peace.144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8CGOthTjI
144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzv1qSFB4t7
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg144Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPf64flP1Ov

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