Unsung Heroes247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgi0Vq6Rxv
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrIXYbSc1d
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWfJKrBLAw
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfesiBP7RrP
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9StcJy0W7
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGt9SW9IcIJ
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4EhvHe3NR
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtI5RpZ24sa
Your crime was literacy,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sWt9KooxM
And the possession of a social conscience,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjKeKJwglY
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJJJzJ1sho
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vDj0qM45S
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFwzTca7B8
You did not bear arms,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPCNruenAWg
For you abhorred all violence,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEJtEguy0q
You did not incite rebellion, though you247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AhuKZCbga
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoE6GMGDGf
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjgKWYT42V
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFVj2Okmgu
In a time of darkness,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBt5YOgZa58
Clung passionately to the belief,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5qy1V0LJX
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRJMxFxZ8u
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAg0aY5NXr
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVE9jsoweEU
And translated news from American and British newspapers,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuNOCJfgKZ
About the gathering storm,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljLkycZgAb
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjebThz9f3
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYQsYgrfcm
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfmbu0W6P5
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jamN7N8Z7
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS66EtlgtC5
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbedSYy5oav
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBxVnyVAvR
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMXnN4jYA1
And you refused to leave them to their fate.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAhV1Svtvr
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqceYEgJIet
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKijHSpeJI1
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtviw7YXXJU
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2J1AyB9co
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡth7rivPQXz
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWgjgutesd
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmdFSz0xHN
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDsXwsuhOK
You endured, God knows what there, for months,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pQMqmdIeS
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpKJNcD5Tt
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJr2jmW54E9
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzRW5hMfL9
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreoZi98Mli
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dRHcdRhk4
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr0OCl5gBR9
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE116L3RB0Y
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneiA3UhkwF
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsDvIcy0Kv
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgv27Fep68
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpS5GXs5KU
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpR417b9qVa
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjMCWqndXE
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5SGtZ3CTh
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThAGNasCJa
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqGRKtNi2K
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Wt9CxvrRx
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0J8RFYpmwD
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7hybmW8bE
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BIKVh1JRW
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhcItJgDUV
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbS46NID7D
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX9GGGCzw2
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGwjoNAubl
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDNHEZogFF
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElxPRxcOta
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1plUXDNT53
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaX2dlNQbB
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJSMmYmR5z
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FvjNXywSc
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzfqyINOAR
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgGMWweZPt
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROGO52wXWN
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaeB8UZRbT
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKpuG1cidG
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq59XnNJpK5
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpU7Nml99z3
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvICgF39sm9
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRZNXkx9ey
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadVvTXsjXn
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7CsIWQiEv
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18HkDnEgLG
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0aeeJn4ZH
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLNUUti4wK
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNB9y2STg2o
Though not freed of her chains.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3edkazXrE
You were spared the war’s aftermath.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuLHbxJGjF
Your wife and children were not.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBZCFV01Pw
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ005BgXINHt
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cHotuwwUg
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJJ1xnMC4N
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8A4AF2pZu
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHRR8SR1hN
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyQBDG8rlJ
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpxAocGWKv
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegEOAEEN7y
Broken heart,247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3dnuMBDpm
Now rest in peace.247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLQhdhzvb8
247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaIYsjsj7E
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFDFPJXzIx

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