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Rizal's Poems
Rizal's Poems
Who's the brave and invincible, 6.The Battle: Urbiztondo, Terror of Jolo
That from far down the West (El Combate: Urbiztondo, Terror de Jolo,
Sails on the expansive world December 1875)
To yonder roseate East?
A hundred war-tried ships
Of Spain he's a heroic son, At the mercy of the gentle wind,
A Titan new of Pirene, Leave behind Manila bay
Who with fury fights against, -The ruffled sea they plough.
If it holds him, the hurricane. A short while they descry
The Moros of Jolo
He's Elcano who undertakes Who with pride they raise
A task that enchants the world ; A thousand waving flags.
To accomplish it he vows
And its vastness him doesn't hold. And when the soldiers strong
Had alighted on the shores
And to red-tailed eagle akin And pointed all their guns
That soars high in the wind Against the enemy's wall,
With an unequalled flight With manly accent spoke
And with a movement swift, The general : "Soldiers of mine,
Upon your valor depends
Of the blowing storm that roars, The rich glory of victory.
He scorns the horrible hiss ;
And mocks with kingly air "I would prefer to die
The lightning's shattering noise. Rather than desist from attack ;
To thee the country entrusts
And like a craggy rock Her noble, sacred seals."
No impetuous ocean in rage Said he ; and like Notus fierce
Or the fury of hurricanes By horrid lightning hedged in
Him can change or disengage ; In furious tempests it sows
Sad weeping and mourning around ;
Such is the invincible So Urbiztondo unsubdued
Elcano, when cruising through His soldiers following him,
The waves, with his Spanish ships, He spreads death everywhere
Their rage they might'ly subdue. With cold steel in his hand.
“But, alas, poor you! Alas, unhappy Spain Thus did speak the sov'reign,
If you run in search of land remote! Portugal's Juan the enlightened.
I will excite the north wind’s rage Glory great beforehand
And the hatred cruel of all that the ocean And the highest post in his palace
holds. . . Offers he the veteran.
And ere you step on the foreign shores,
War and discord I’ll put within your ship; But . . . hurriedly he flees
And I’ll not rest until I see your ruin, Columbusfrom the treach'rous deceiver
Of the palace ambitious; You are my mother, Mary, and shall be
Runs he, flies to where dwells my life, my stronghold, my defense most
Isabel the Christian, his benefactress. thorough;
and you shall be my guide on this wild sea.
15. GREAT SOLACE IN GREAT
MISFORTUNE (Gran Consuelo en la If vice pursues me madly on the morrow,
Mayor Desdicha, 1878) if death harasses me with agony:
come to my aid and dissipate my sorrow!
Th' incense mild in silver tripods The Cross, the Cross, insignia idolized,
That th' Arabian bark distills, Follows its army that to conquer aspires:
Burns and spreads intoxicating scent, Mary goes with them with her cloak
Of the sumptuous chamber soft delight. Shelters she with love the bodies weak.
Everything is silent : everyone sleeps ; But don't fear, for triumphant ever be
Only the sorrowful Moor keeps guard, Will the Muslim in the combat crude,
Contemplates the light that sadly And of no avail her protection would be
Penetrates through th' elegant arch. For only God helps the faithful with his arm.
But so sudden he beholds outlined But alas! If you sleep in the arms of delight
Dubious shadow that in the gentle light And my heavenly precepts you ignore
Agitates him for a time, and his sullen face The throne that sustained Tarif will fall
Masculine contour acquires. To the rough blow of the sword profane
With a white turban covered in his head, Like the overflowing river your blood
Animates his countenance a lengthy beard, Will inundate the vales and fields
From his belt a curved cutlass hangs And the flourishing Iberia's ground
Horribly dripping with ardent blood. Th' Arab's cold tomb will become ;
And in numberless battles in eternal war, 21. To The Philippines, February 1880
Into your breasts will plunge A Translation from the Spanish by Nick
The proud Spaniard's knife, and the vile Joaquin
dust
Like the accursed .serpent you'll bite ; Warm and beautiful like a houri of yore,
as gracious and as pure as the break of
And you'll yield the ground inch by inch dawn
Fertilized by your blessed blood ; when darling clouds take on a sapphire
The weak women and children slaves will tone,
be sleeps a goddess on the Indian shore.
In their sad affliction ; The small waves of the sonorous sea assail
her feet with ardent, amorous kisses, while
Hurled again to the desert cruel, the intellectual West adores her smile;
Bitter tears for peace that was lost and the old hoary Pole, her flower veil.
You will shed, and in shameful torment
You will count the days of your return. My Muse, most enthusiastic and elate,
sings to her among naiads and undines;
And rejoicing proudly at your distress I offer her my fortune and my fate.
In their perfidy A thousand ships will arm,
And the beautiful ground where I rest in With myrtle, purple roses, and flowering
peace greens
They will threaten with fury never seen. and lilies, crown her brow immaculate,
O artists, and exalt the Philippines!
Arm yourself ! Run ! Quickly fly !
Cast your veteran army with the fight
And to the wind let the son'rous trumpet This poem was written by Jose Rizal to serve
release as a reminder for Filipinos to love their
Warlike accent, to glory a toast. motherland.
WIVES:
Go to work with spirits high,
For the wife keeps home faithfully,
Inculcates love in her children for a cup of coffee please.
For virtue, knowledge and country.
When the evening brings repose, Instead of tender stanzas
On returning joy awaits you, that move the heart’s sympathy,
And if fate is adverse, the wife, one now writes a poem
Shall know the task to continue. with a pen of steel,
a joke and an irony.
(Chorus)
Muse that in the past
MAIDENS: inspired me to sing of the throes
Hail! Hail! Praise to labour, of love: go and repose.
Of the country wealth and vigor! What I need is a sword,
For it brow serene's exalted, rivers of gold, and acrid prose.
It's her blood, life, and ardor.
If some youth would show his love I have a need to reason,
Labor his faith will sustain : to meditate, to offer
Only a man who struggles and works combat, sometimes to weep;
Will his offspring know to maintain. for he who would love much
has also much to suffer.
(Chorus)
Gone are the days of peace,
CHILDREN: the days of love’s gay chorus,
Teach, us ye the laborious work when the flowers were enough
To pursue your footsteps we wish, to alleviate the soul
For tomorrow when country calls us of its sufferings and sorrows.
We may be able your task to finish.
And on seeing us the elders will say : One by one from my side
"Look, they're worthy 'f their sires of yore!" go those I loved so much:
Incense does not honor the dead this one dead, that one married;
As does a son with glory and valor. for fate seals with disaster
everything that I touch.
For what, when among the people But if with laurel triumph crowns
who criticize and maltreat me, our efforts, and my country, united,
arid the soul, the lips frigid, like a queen of the East arises,
there’s not a heart that beats a white pearl rescued from the sty:
with mine, no heart to meet me? return then and intone with vigor
the sacred hymn of a new existence,
Let sleep in the depths of oblivion and we shall sing that strain in chorus “
all that I feel, for there though in the sepulcher we lie.
it well should be, where the breath
cannot mix it with a rhyme
that evaporates in the air.
30.KUNDIMAN, 1891
As sleep in the deep abyss Translation from Zaide
the monsters of the sea,
so let my tribulations, Now mute indeed are tongue and heart:
my fancies and my lyrics love shies away, joy stands apart.
slumber, buried in me. Neglected by its leaders and defeated,
the country was subdued and it submitted.
I know well that your favors But O the sun will shine again!
you lavish without measure Itself the land shall disenchain;
only during that time and once more round the world with
of flowers and first loves growing praise
unclouded by displeasure. shall sound the name of the Tagalog race.
Many years have passed We shall pour out our blood in a great flood
since with the ardent heat to liberate the parent sod;
of a kiss you burned my brow but till that day arrives for which we weep,
That kiss has now turned cold, love shall be mute, desire shall sleep.
I have even forgotten it!
31. WATER AND FIRE (EL AGUA Y
But, before departing, say EL FUEGO, 1891)
that to your sublime address
ever responded in me Water are we, you say, and yourselves fire,
a song for those who grieve so let us be what we are
and a challenge for those who oppress. and co-exist without ire,
and may no conflagration ever find us at a stranger now and alone!
war. Let the others sing of loving,
who are happybut you, begone!
but, rather, fused together by cunning
science Begone, wanderer! Look not behind you
within the cauldrons of the ardent breast, nor grieve as you leave again.
without rage, without defiance, Begone, wanderer: stifle your sorrows!
do we form steam, fifth element indeed: the world laughs at another's pain.
progress, life, enlightenment, and speed!