Unsung Heroes194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd497Tf5NKO
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWoQczwbyP
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3bzmkPm94
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSH4cHnFzO
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbX9V5IskR0
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWkpaw71qL
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡld2zNfvNbY
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9HCRi2KGd
Your crime was literacy,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWa5rhvixWp
And the possession of a social conscience,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVmJtZ2Z1W
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKOlNor11o
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZcgcVeR15
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmXfVF9Xmr
You did not bear arms,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqvFv5B7v6
For you abhorred all violence,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLXUP6XyIf
You did not incite rebellion, though you194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXS0m4NuQWg
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqeKeU9ukL
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLsDoVpynw
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxDr4LalYR
In a time of darkness,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdG2xjLyZI
Clung passionately to the belief,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBBcNL01AE
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2h9Ilxv8Xs
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsxkLQX4Lt
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFzyPwfxWF
And translated news from American and British newspapers,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoauveQ3zVT
About the gathering storm,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFvKRx6X8Tm
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfOTLaGcoWk
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1mM1EvxSd
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nPnUHbU26
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomuSOEUZhZ
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBhGCF199M
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDYvJI2v1u
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQov0wJtLY
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN029IHFXgv
And you refused to leave them to their fate.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJFRmGLmHp
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVn1u2f71K
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWVrs8I6En
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKP25onOhoJ
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwdyDYChHD
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDEFAERniE
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUxofNMvLj
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0FoAo7KgHe
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydc0fhiKTK
You endured, God knows what there, for months,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kk2uM8zYh
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyamSXNFf4i
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4fLX5IUAU
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIWSqTzJz6
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7oxPRRuTHk
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNiRxRgVAk
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfqEGxacj8
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLbvfNjvzb6
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnB9wO9VJxc
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJloDwM5f9
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS85i5Bg2vq
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BOOzPXSuW
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOGMQtfd9C
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0B4cMbc6c2
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoY45xD3i7
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmEtAMqzDnj
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjS9aaIuqX
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ppd0BY25f
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIoVvLB2tz
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoTD2HYsik
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1JvByN469
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3qrHMnl8N
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqs5zsEQOm
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8IVgAC0al
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3NPF51FmD
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0jx4EAmck
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgT69VZOV1
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NPZmNpPfB
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjO0fypYHyS
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcPgxUofpv
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ726xBx1CKX
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBRBRGDyKi
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUbq4wVj0Q
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKts4Z6wll
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZoNMwsypj
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqY63mb8fCt
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡacO00T9Ej2
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9UPyLgwX3
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40aDwc4fiF
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHy4zrxM1Bc
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAebapU77pt
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscwRUN83yk
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZAxSr9rtPm
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdWXrq56ps
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEk9KU0n5w
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoO9wEu47NC
Though not freed of her chains.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOJxKgWcZ1
You were spared the war’s aftermath.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoaeMF6u66
Your wife and children were not.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoPMel9785
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2fLKBT6FC
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQ3MPUvWQf
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF55mE9z6YO
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6G01UL9oHT
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF71sibDzWu
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWdiinsdAH
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Ha5wJ8d0i
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGAVXZJzi8
Broken heart,194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQN9waNaJke
Now rest in peace.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiZXT3TU2g
194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHWGSNGXzJ
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpYp8uORkD

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