Unsung Heroes574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHi2PN4ZiJZ
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNNfKAAalG
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79zLG17SAj
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKKQpaGS1n
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjt3Eb4DtzH
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCg51lSDcy
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtYR6Rgh9x
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWSMJ4ECdu
Your crime was literacy,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3AvVqpTyb
And the possession of a social conscience,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3Q7aV8T2U
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQY6JOarCvp
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yJA1sNfG8
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IXJCouLUJ
You did not bear arms,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dXqwIObQ1
For you abhorred all violence,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zmmH37FvQ
You did not incite rebellion, though you574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFFnjviGXW
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3A8whhh15I
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJ3xCQ7PcL
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxsDRAVi8C
In a time of darkness,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWtGtnQU4f
Clung passionately to the belief,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkpkCY9Uch
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLCxgwonsI
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTN3HUsNpM6
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7J1lKp7kZk
And translated news from American and British newspapers,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzfr6K8UU2
About the gathering storm,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lwLkmG579
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYoYVyx6udo
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVqfay9PNa
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80tObhgNe0
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1c2nUeLl1S
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMF4eYVitU3
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHfv50zYjx
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0H9yc8iu0I
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QNe4Caotf
And you refused to leave them to their fate.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7nHwZVYruL
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡris1ldJ60D
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpSckZDLh9
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxC0IV4A0Zz
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqFTs9PYNB
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRQlwIyoRo
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZchSrTG2be
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEGASL0SKf
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpZOwTpir4
You endured, God knows what there, for months,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNA2QA4luji
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPagqltFFv
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27hUaO8DqJ
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnvERRAkPa
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8aK2lqw5K
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdEkFx0UbKz
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhuimY1lfC
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFlXKw2gJJ
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6Z3v2KcrG
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFfYf0qgjo
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehT8qD5D9M
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Rkd2lnBfX
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHgGqhSuOt
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKlKLbfbga
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡih8zZvSeZq
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKCbQAoW3O
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHywITJvdX
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatiVfAv5np
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnXYWJwqj0
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevGyfDHeUD
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡda77u3XGV3
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrcggsfrpy
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKqWAD61Gw
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhX8guLL3B
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67etAbTwNr
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolZM87ykbI
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFo9Uwr8o5G
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJMvuE4xDK
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuq3PazzHSr
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNx0kSSBS72
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxjzJjJZpb
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFYWIgjhjv
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2477GZp4Vf
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX81OX3BQQe
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZO4h244Go9
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZqf8yDJML
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuaIcL84Lv9
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqbP1BLnK5
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEAO4uw5zJd
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUoT9AlXeSP
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5qYTqWwcF
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrrWdg6VBv
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNGVhcAtbi
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWbGgH69kB
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AvBWXOyPZ
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1b4HfBYhoj
Though not freed of her chains.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyi0qD1CTsi
You were spared the war’s aftermath.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJczo0apQT
Your wife and children were not.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7TFYHPNXd
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXqrV19tDs
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDWYF0GXLQ
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvuTYdChzr
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28d35MdPs5
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn99Tyc1CS0
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LigQjm0ps
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPqROMfcr4
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgbRpKwbqv
Broken heart,574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQOfObrUL0
Now rest in peace.574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5DtTFxKWD
574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbD8L5Oly6
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg574Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6a4cIZmliR

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