Unsung Heroes191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeN77g9FgT2
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbhQIBasfP
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBqNJ0gDfT
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE36mvCrhCL
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQh7riHJPIt
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu59Ee4o9AA
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjdlxBeht3
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTjvdJuzDf
Your crime was literacy,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9hSqWDqmT
And the possession of a social conscience,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSrG9Upn0p
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDMrAx5IC3
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAewyWwgGu
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfU3hhEKLwY
You did not bear arms,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBKAqj22I9
For you abhorred all violence,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjntvZrgtwK
You did not incite rebellion, though you191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovsKPl5sg0
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrK7TaQZDn
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWY1MwbCaH5
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7UEQQ3kDV
In a time of darkness,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5xo1orUw9
Clung passionately to the belief,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOJrHuR5ao
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4DjQbFr3k
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGROXukEEhw
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08NdKm2KAh
And translated news from American and British newspapers,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIluhHRqeo
About the gathering storm,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlePXxAVjvK
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3fsiydwQT
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwC06WS7Gl
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6GJ7PAqis
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfR2od5EbOR
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYL6PFfpFwd
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHeG8BY7cgn
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYEMvzDC87
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzLlMtHQGx
And you refused to leave them to their fate.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhiMX7oazj
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDX3ftKO7DJ
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9lt7pPDIZ
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrhbt8xN2v
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJWj2Dh7Bn
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYBDVlQCaB
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡko4LGbq1QA
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy64JninJLD
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOH4VuPyVN
You endured, God knows what there, for months,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZk4PrV3Pa
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4LFSYIUfa
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbIquDhAXT
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RShvg7xMH
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhQjWbie05
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouNm1IM36W
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3tAVmFH64
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbzxDY95QJ
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOP1p3YLNe3
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKKbxmVOTa
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwHdmuwEUF
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ41BUslqEh
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3TiVNLFxk
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrNEOvf5i6
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa93p9Bfn72
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXevOEEVZA
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsgOL6Ddcr
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPBvgjiqZJ
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SINP3Z89Q
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWBVReDCyf
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxy1VIysw0D
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡocfrNRdZ2F
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4TPATHMDl
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoqdYeMQHx
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSv0GylPTi4
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLNa0dxXQM
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2ayLi2hf1
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhy3RIfCIg
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfTZlJIl3j
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYTKwtzBEu
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBbiUVOT6U4
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9J4MR1cf12
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZVfqqoPdC
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOlmnswiJ3
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJUH2K74Z3
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWM1VXUgoL
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbh2oKZ3Oyx
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZzXXnlnle
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNfhD8ESnk
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEXMrIPPhs
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ853xBwXdJ0
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCBkkPR4QI
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FgoEGVq9f
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8Xiopt63r
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XKGJcbE1Y
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjtoDFxahQ
Though not freed of her chains.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3q8IpUegE
You were spared the war’s aftermath.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8PcjRgL8l
Your wife and children were not.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5Xr0O0exX
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzpZecWp6F
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7iXvr4DuFI
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnk9LiDjcy
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GcvD0uQJs
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBuZRi23y7
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzNYmFC32R
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2pL7Xhk7G
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCkDvwXAdK
Broken heart,191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzLmv12XX2
Now rest in peace.191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1RrVvnjBy
191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERc9aedya3
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg191Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkGTfZrun0d

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