Unsung Heroes V and VI: Felipe & Lita

This podcast is a reading of the last two parts of my longest free-verse poem, Unsung Heroes. It is about my mom and dad who both had very difficult lives from earliest childhood until their deaths including living through the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War that caused the death and exile of their fathers, living under dictatorships on two continents, pulling themselves by their bootstraps to a very comfortable life only to lose it all in business ventures in a times of economic chaos. Through it all they never once lost their moral compass, made excuses for their plight or wallowed in self-pity. They bent under circumstances that would have crushed lesser human beings, like their only son, and pushed forward with unshakable faith in themselves and the belief that God may test them but never crush them, and that hard work would allow them to once again prosper if they simply persevered. I wrote my dad's poem in one sitting the day after his death as a means of dealing with the grief and sharing his life with those that did not know him. My mom's poem I began writing during the fourth year of her four-year losing battle with dementia when I sensed the end was near and completed it the day after she passed in 2018. They are both together again with God and I am comforted in the possibility of seeing them once again in the fullness of time should I prove worthy of the honor when my time comes.