Unsung Heroes136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7QczLw4fA
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRvs6tboDB
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4e05eH1y7
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzM3YVuY1ZN
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZhgJISTL0
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAMgCKCuXe
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmP69T6LHg
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Q8IxxtR88
Your crime was literacy,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xtXK8KAOf
And the possession of a social conscience,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWLlqyIxdV
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2sjkPRCnJ
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVo4GeRlBt
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBUxiMlA4Z
You did not bear arms,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLTfv49s4V
For you abhorred all violence,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7DoiWSYth
You did not incite rebellion, though you136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLsGx2mACn
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIrDrHLSEn
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItGZzxZjW2
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrudb3qXLT
In a time of darkness,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBhQ3hEuz4
Clung passionately to the belief,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOUKC6nyaC
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBpe1OVIgO
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0jDm5aMCk
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XAsx4oVKB
And translated news from American and British newspapers,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOjk9vRkwI
About the gathering storm,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RmhZGZPt4
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMvpP73XKH
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWBP5xZoF5
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3qUwj3Zck
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LZMPxlTNh
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbq6tHazI0s
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6w0lznIUv
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ssTmxPV5e
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LnNwkwK9a
And you refused to leave them to their fate.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMDMSTM8KC
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTQhZdOtxj
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreMiIvdRiv
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9B49ONYxRD
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74JCgZys7x
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tMrTn0yLt
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXuFTKgs2F6
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtKzVkWu5R
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthA5bdt5ML
You endured, God knows what there, for months,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdeak3qeIp
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6RsgcsaTm
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡertpnO4LMv
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbxIAwLNLd
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXBqoQf67W
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2f0nsQHP1a
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPisDTJWRz
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoDHx4Vil4
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ174QOBqHhV
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsg9S4y9bb
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUgvXJUZko
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxngOFTzRSD
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6u086MhCYX
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7eG6YFWOy
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhja539MgU
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxAqZqy9Rk7
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhQSDpemjL
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOslRGv78Ee
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2j4XKPiTKv
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDa5x6VIeSb
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXwiguzusb
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwBAYwTks4
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksWQf6y0Ih
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUukFpplJFg
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCx1DCpe2M
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfk0lcLumQ
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOtwHox8yi
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKW6U2ekD3V
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JHdcwK3r6
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrbyvVisje
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ45mMtSLgE
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKskBJn0ukS
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0U3aRE2L0L
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHhWlQZ6UO
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02RwtEfZm5
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuj1N3XuC1
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfB8xOpRHJa
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8ft6dBW9C
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8vpzaeAmn
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsgjaXeI95
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMG6JViSbsY
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfID7ez5nt
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrXu1sgnZP
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvhXMBZW5W
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePwiK57jnj
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGxshrcYgB
Though not freed of her chains.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52NNl5tUsP
You were spared the war’s aftermath.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0jg1kKI5H
Your wife and children were not.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVf7KVDBqvB
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2knbzMj1cM
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0ULFNx12Q
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmEZtWEvj8
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzOos7bRG8
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3r4h9Ab1kv
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5kvsqYPjw
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubUwlS35kl
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvvolJR6pX
Broken heart,136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rbfp8JMbx
Now rest in peace.136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtFZ9FpxLP
136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3sZzXQyst
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=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg136Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcH3FiKWHJL

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