Unsung Heroes69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHyXo9Fdb8
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIiXMLsAVXz
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntKuXllgga
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HCC3hTqTy
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEY8iru69G1
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uvmrvaHGQ
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zyNl3Apdf
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckGdiacY9z
Your crime was literacy,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡupL9fwbEl1
And the possession of a social conscience,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWe39vHlSS
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKt31J1DnzR
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScTa1mrgbl
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGD03mhJ9h
You did not bear arms,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAd0uEt6RH
For you abhorred all violence,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPs9aGqQNYt
You did not incite rebellion, though you69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfZi8VrKyc
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLPG9IK08E
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJBhP33Tyo
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9wq1khuPZ
In a time of darkness,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Cwkw6WGnI
Clung passionately to the belief,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcVIaTeYRz
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfcZecKFqI
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGj1GrckeLh
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpFZR9TKOe
And translated news from American and British newspapers,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyQlMy9moA
About the gathering storm,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NWe3RvteV
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEWnlpdxsi
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStES89Waws
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbQWZDHUaP
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JYooOPLfW
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43YACOwI6T
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMVvFT1a73
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq57YFsldBl
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAqJ4B8zSA
And you refused to leave them to their fate.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNygFhLs7W
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGmg9qek4u
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLiMsKvxqBA
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9SN2Gluy3
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyw6UYBGltq
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSoKdEHJs9
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPCDcGcvzU
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3sjIsL3tkl
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUETHcdfbPe
You endured, God knows what there, for months,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4qZHfXg5f
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPGxQxYbTC
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yhW03PNPk
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwd70hI3IrR
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFC4YdSCcj
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PDW9wNJDt
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0GepXGauu
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQWcHalR8q
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLObHAqXIoJ
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpxk6StzZUe
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Gw30ttsRi
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDier0iQyE
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUSFcrkO90
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLrZ9kkXJN
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjw5apBZR4N
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaAYkRn26p
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXDK0WSRhf
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZf5FzkI3mu
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kfr84OixP
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGMJJROf3T
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrr2ZssKPn
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYNspwS9jA
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUJYlRY4P5
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYCBq3r0pF
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aaJw3mkT3
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrJ4HFw62I
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBiYbf1Vv63
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFwvlHLSzB
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17kQuKvCZh
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycZ4CUeM8I
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFVMAIGnZJ
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrt2jgfOgf9
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWv7ZLIxxOU
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pbyVJfi7K
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1xgPp1iHy
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHnzFpH4h9
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMoDvhaXPU
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNUPWa1bd8
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCBa9ih3t0
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtd9Bt5jFCP
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5UQOUQruN
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkVNoNbeIq
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EpT3VwSQi
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugOYAncJfx
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6Qtc1tZjD
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHg9Fdx0XR
Though not freed of her chains.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHjT7dVp7T
You were spared the war’s aftermath.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0p92isuXZ
Your wife and children were not.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vep12dOSh
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAvHIzJLs7
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfP9wBcteO
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQaNFnqXqO
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCd01Ej9Gv
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyqmW5qaLw
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYojP2rXIZ
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdr0s9pQqt
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Rd0VcmS5i
Broken heart,69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ARWal1eGA
Now rest in peace.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBJGeKLDQG
69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsb1SLgitv
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKODtVnZiUI

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