Unsung Heroes70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9O9de3O77L
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡov4oIaZViD
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpzkOQBIWe
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIAcgawyUI
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jGTnliyMH
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4t2RpQwiq
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡua10H66vwy
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0SYnplAj2
Your crime was literacy,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBR4zuh4fxG
And the possession of a social conscience,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnBuME3COX4
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojXlSr3Dxq
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFOiPKm3vf
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJq9Cn9Mu1z
You did not bear arms,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2X0NAIHiV2
For you abhorred all violence,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSmqli4tER
You did not incite rebellion, though you70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdIqgycqOC
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTMqpqSgDx
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTSATjABas
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MZsvdJWdN
In a time of darkness,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWv4wzQWti
Clung passionately to the belief,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjKneuy8m3
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0zaO1KRl2
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMoZEvT52K
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2p6tnXK1e
And translated news from American and British newspapers,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9iSRXQ8o6
About the gathering storm,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JizEIH3Wc
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkA1z8J7ig1
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPiyhqIUd6
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3Nfko6rF9
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhdNZXGheAT
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVUAkd4TmJ
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlKMUbZvIv
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhRfCz1m5C
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfyU9AxOPB
And you refused to leave them to their fate.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHG0AmrAX3E
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmighEkeNp
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHW9gwlghr4
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlddjcnZr0
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVM3aeu0HYg
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiNiwZf4qW
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUY9adCeJC
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2oNpikpj9F
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBeGpNCMv8
You endured, God knows what there, for months,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKuXRp66M0
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeXcbwxx6z
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQigBuvjU4g
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5JqHKHQV6
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6ZYHJVk2O
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTLLSlODcu
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEp9vENA2F
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBrKTmZzwfD
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy0mPLhNlwX
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFwYXjDGFB
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0bApAcT0l
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMmdIJ44h3
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxY0od76RT
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBbwfsZ5Hr
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKpQyPM4h5
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTE7aC9orEj
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneAYSGndbQ
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGP7mZBeDz
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkZ1wY2l2P
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpD7VSq2xSh
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWiOP9Laju
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOC6aNj0oFq
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqOxEQitdO
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDGrxaOr6R
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0L04Orjq1
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNAz8AbS95
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmCbZUrzEh
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SHLUzkkHI
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqE4cssaAQt
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiQVGCw7zB
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBi5DeJhmh
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmmgOSrfxF
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwpeE8gefa
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3u5Ps3bDxp
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzhoGcemy8
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdScJTVHZuY
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IWRQoZGNz
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3T8LyKkmm
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIk0Uf90EIp
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiA7v1lDj2
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLbrZeKZkci
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NXz8nNvQQ
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYm3IiuiLEz
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoahW2wEjb
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzq9Bct7UZL
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTtGoIMHkt
Though not freed of her chains.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRa4NPZEglt
You were spared the war’s aftermath.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTo19NQs6X
Your wife and children were not.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZsJjagII73
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndAlp8JnfD
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xT0MFC52L
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fDoF6zsVd
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNe9SWxkO2t
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstkdkC5zdq
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65CFpJOLkG
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yC5h02Cvm
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVHpL3BdiS
Broken heart,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25aNm5kqmg
Now rest in peace.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0bT16JxgY
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rUOyFLcFf
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TYnad5qJV

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