Revolutionaries know

courage is its own reward

a martyr smiles,

open armed, his stygmata

facing his murderers

bearing the light

in the encroaching

darkness

as distant torch-bearers

look on

The Madrilene

has failed in all

except nerve

But his boldness

is his victory

Inspired by Franscisco Goya’s “The Third of May 1808 (1814)”