Unsung Heroes57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXkgyL0xpM
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZnB9yMEdp
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6kFjE7Pda
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlM0YKSbVe
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcAkDoz3Dt
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5aRk817fg
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuyMpiENv0
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0XYFfiFGu
Your crime was literacy,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcbme7WnyQ
And the possession of a social conscience,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhrbr5JRe9
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNk6576GzQL
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNLPcBglmD
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TueUUd1yX
You did not bear arms,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEjNHN9wuN
For you abhorred all violence,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlfb9qBNg8
You did not incite rebellion, though you57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgnlsxbRk2
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvST295B59
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡel7DgM1ERO
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUMCUqGnJ1
In a time of darkness,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwY3x10dhS
Clung passionately to the belief,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0UDQ6AN74
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0orBXKuK7
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUAvDeT5PU
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3hWahixhM
And translated news from American and British newspapers,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqqwfyYWAT
About the gathering storm,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAH7YWVEKZ
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nDYveEycg
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9h3GsC0JAB
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDN6l6xpZE
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlx9BcfhJld
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOistQQ5My
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlqxUWH6Ci
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdyxYiDlRSC
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsMPnBycmd
And you refused to leave them to their fate.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrEcQ0hKUF
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6uw66Oq1V
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZF99HPYqVe
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFlYJzWule
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPO2fWhxg1
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1lHHbXrSK
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSAtS2ZgZaB
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKz7BHZmAo
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18VuY8LCrg
You endured, God knows what there, for months,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPqKgJTNWI
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6cCUo3UOZ
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcaab0Z8la
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZ4rrvXu8V
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NuYiWmAlG
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPN5WMKlE1n
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMPM7NDewm
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26JJP6mbwm
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPYwSTZlqH
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRv7Fh2ToFp
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZCj7H8fAJ
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6Jz6VOZ85
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhhnWxk7Rh
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBL6w9j4Vo1
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlmEuzU4C0
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQodkujrb1
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ETuXCOrqp
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8c3Denlzm
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjDJFlTQcr
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQmZG0mt0n
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVU2tZZmcz
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYKLz7CoeX
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuGadbV63u
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VWg0Zb1ut
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5N6Ds7JCBX
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJg6cHumaK
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AlpGedrq0
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5Debay3uE
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ321r6Wxumo
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yHINnSXGv
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0upNC5HRo
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn23jfVXsjg
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKD7Uq6UAY
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazxhjBVmul
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxiT8SXFQdZ
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GDalLNcoC
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrhBHxvpee
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGv7uUpBgL1
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFVj7pC2Xr
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jbUIaGnO7
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdZA6E2h4G
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFArzsjod5
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJiRmfHEqQv
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LuIV3d0Rh
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2787ODhW5P
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlykrodcAT
Though not freed of her chains.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9UhOXGDNY
You were spared the war’s aftermath.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunaHAKpvm1
Your wife and children were not.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ah6aTiZHg
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryMFa4mgmu
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBxQO5uUkj
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZZVnb7IrM
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbarBrWiap
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyBBiZ6vWR
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqGX4WOU44
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4oJ0CyQS2
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdRQ0f5CC9
Broken heart,57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqZUjhTCAd
Now rest in peace.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCShn8lVfpS
57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMZi7Jhx0k
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ciubCywLT

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