Unsung Heroes189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLc6th2q0OI
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUELEtNwnTk
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0f9CD3qtOc
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3FBGb2sce
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwe6OCAMA6d
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQob9gwvL65
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLDGpCQ7hu
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0U6f2R4ULk
Your crime was literacy,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGQmrRhFqq
And the possession of a social conscience,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Tg91SQ8M1
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjk2gvuZ8aV
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyK6KBcJ7Ox
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzP5ulWn4t
You did not bear arms,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHM51lPvT6
For you abhorred all violence,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXxjlVaS1o
You did not incite rebellion, though you189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Dl1UsBCOm
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZn9zxFucEo
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOYFcBduPn
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKpf9NdkkX
In a time of darkness,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYQXLDaB0M
Clung passionately to the belief,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrHrZjXsjk
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tOTCuhx8v
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIwUJn9kDo
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OJ1UNNEyk
And translated news from American and British newspapers,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHtDMT4YWv
About the gathering storm,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxPoRnoeBF
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOKSfOQQ9m
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrv7OF67Dfk
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pOqpU7lgh
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVxcgm3MMq
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByZCCsZv5d
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8vbwdaqmk
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9LTH39hGD
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisUpI0drzG
And you refused to leave them to their fate.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNIYmiXOJZ
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8N47dj0ZZ8
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyCzizoAuq
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoO2nYUyHzo
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSaZUFaDHp
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwm0ukpZbR4
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiMBhyZu5r
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsi8F0RgZtG
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOHOhYhd9j
You endured, God knows what there, for months,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5nHGITfiH
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18ET2CeQkE
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRliO2dahPe
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91erwrd4o3
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd33SAsnrWX
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2g5U3jNuqt
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfJUjDh4ZX
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceHu4soZbT
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBzh5GkhYW
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0FyllXB9Bq
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwaZl3qTtne
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvtn5qVZQj
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡux1aWPtuoF
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5SMHJxWSy
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5noHU06nX
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZh1i3Q6xyH
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUq6ylDHFII
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3MwOuazHa
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0z6riIkEX
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyOVxAiSzH
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxbV3vaThI
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfl8y18x3uT
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZJUirNm9z
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQvNd2Hqcr
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcvYT91INe
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvNJFj5pJv
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrDwLMgsac
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNJ5HvH6Ik
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡon7lVqLLL5
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrLpdfUhoB
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Efy8aWo7P
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb29WClkRt3
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpJAdD0zUQ
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlpsLdJ16K
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0FfkvnBqx
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNAWFpBLEl
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspAkcj2DQx
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyR32SE87k
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqcCqOBb64
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLTm0Ruhzb
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezEY9YItHZ
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgQbkftBpu
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60NMzJElzG
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6vIyYufS0
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxddluyQZP
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSZXWuSdGH
Though not freed of her chains.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7nTh51jOMa
You were spared the war’s aftermath.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwp1bAP171k
Your wife and children were not.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAvObktnap
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3udPkOoNfA
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN2g7WQbvGL
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJHkHmEDoO
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuu4dLr5cK
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMz9bYyBqEM
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc75dMNVzlh
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM91J1jPPTr
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmqR7m0tmo
Broken heart,189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJiihFcJod
Now rest in peace.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGySyUgneH
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdmHunDyL8
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzl7DUExbaX

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