Unsung Heroes56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSl5ztJrKW
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xnwCpfaiL
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLKY7wiIgT
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOc7cVxI4Bg
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8muaogzQG8
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3iMaT6jFaf
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxA2Qm544Im
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYy5nb468Ma
Your crime was literacy,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWbYkltja8
And the possession of a social conscience,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxQ6aDJgHw
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3fxiXRF9p
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXq2kR3BEM
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtdTpaxmH5
You did not bear arms,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kcbs6wOCy
For you abhorred all violence,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQGIPhbbfo
You did not incite rebellion, though you56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfqa1qlXi2
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrA0oLXH9O
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bil0AD1R9
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJ0hYJy1lp
In a time of darkness,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOI3pZxfRCw
Clung passionately to the belief,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSg6YdI3Gie
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgdVVJOTNX4
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2RRtGkH5v
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVN72Buwe3
And translated news from American and British newspapers,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFBfSMsGC5
About the gathering storm,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOadVtUpU6
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjF9ZaaWBx0
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ909Sy1u56K
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sx9rpgp5k
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJ3wygmetg
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8fAx2rg0d
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUeodvCIc3
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElffyTk9Qz
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA57mGZgUfA
And you refused to leave them to their fate.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwjT3HiE8U
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbZr7pYkkL
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWdCIiOOrY
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzrautu3Wk
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6048Vu0CO
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSubUqVF9Ck
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8ah9l2R1d
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡno5BZG1WfM
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzCYNv414m
You endured, God knows what there, for months,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQd0nQv9tZD
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhoVfQf2WdB
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmo9SJp8b5J
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGMwPBgUEb
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5rEXFADoW
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBV70QwiLR
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDx3Lwu1S6
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYU7BE3O6bM
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqCve0ddCV
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGALq1IYAXR
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkd3byeAnHC
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUKWh3ewbW
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3E81uOzUij
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yXDWxfdaX
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNIUGHFKvS
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgq7y7UmBW
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbCCbtphDf
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcL9zVxWgVl
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmgyPfKEzs
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGovCEsE1KJ
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWup1YrrQ6
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7awgtDoW9L
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUODUfoAOzT
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEQGkDrjw9
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUqR1Ic5fL
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo01HJVWCzJ
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1RXlUGUav
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKlgmGhg8O
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRh8Dkt13kx
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZ0MmzsRv1
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcY2oIaE8P
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eVGuLg3ut
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLxLiqmftr
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTd4jQkiSS
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuweGG99EeB
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0XETQuAHN
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCLD0osUun
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvDhGu0kk2
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ797Z9tymT
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fQorgWDY0
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EZBpwNtqp
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEzc6qQcsE
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg189LBESTx
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhm1QBPaqZ
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp80yYU65KA
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdq3PwCOQCD
Though not freed of her chains.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4KlxWooth
You were spared the war’s aftermath.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYek8oaIdO
Your wife and children were not.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UywlSZkky
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyx6Qy0lsDa
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWsOjrkyyA
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuT0U8c2Q6L
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGdiJvTssJm
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMww1WLThJ
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqpMQtIHSv
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGaOE90HcX
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvymqw5ll2Z
Broken heart,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvv4xBHTtX
Now rest in peace.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGAhvYWZnE
56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2K8h9tE00
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAbR5lbHVM

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