Divine Pauline B.

Din
PCBET 17 302-A
GE09 Life and Works of Rizal

They Ask Me for Verses

From the title of this poem, “They Ask Me for Verses”, we can conclude that our hero was asked
to write or create a poem by a group of people. From the first stanza of the poem, Rizal used the lyre
to symbolize his writings; “You bid me now to strike the lyre”. But then, he said “that mute in torn so
long has lain; And yet I cannot wake the strain; Nor will the muse one note inspire; coldly, it shakes in
accents dire”. He was asked to write a poem but he cannot find an inspiration to write. Like other
artists, poets or authors, it is difficult for them to force their minds to create an output without their
willingness to do so. In the first to the second stanza, it seems like Rizal is feeling lonely for he’s not
able to find the urge to write with his heart. He cherished those times when he was able to write such
great poems recognized by lots of people.

The next stanza gives emphasis to the place of origin of Rizal; our beloved country. It is
written in this stanza “A scarce-grown plant I seem, uprooted from the Orient”. Seems like Rizal talks
about him in his beloved country “scarce-grown”; means there are only few citizens who were like
him uprooted in this country “where perfume is the atmosphere, and where life is a dream”. And this
wonderful land taught him such wonderful things that build his personality. Then up to the next
stanza, Rizal tells the wonders of our country which he observed in his childhood life. And he, being a
poet, would like to wish to the wind to fly and reach his homeland and “Praise her from zone to zone,
from the earth up to the sky!".
The last two stanza shows the sorrow and cry of an agonizing heart. Rizal badly missed
spending his life in his homeland. “I left her! My native hearth…I sailed across the vast ocean,
craving to change my fate…” This lines pinched my heart for I felt the sadness and desolation of our
hero for his hometown. I realized how great his love for our country is and really deserves to be a
hero. And at the same time, I thought of the sacrifices of the overseas Filipino workers; that they
also feel that sorrow and desolation. Present heroes; and I salute them.