UN RECUERDO A MI PUEBLO For thy peace, thy bliss, and tranquility

O Genius of good, so kind!

When early childhood’s happy days Give me these gifts with charity.
In memory I see once more To thee are my fervent vows,
Along the lovely verdant shore To thee I cease not to sigh
That meets a gently murmuring sea; These to learn, and I call to the sky
  To have thy sincerity.
When I recall the whisper soft
Of zephyrs dancing on my brow
With cooling sweetness, even now
New luscious life is born in me.
 
When I behold the lily white
AL NINO JESUS
That sways to do the wind’s command,
While gently sleeping on the sand
The stormy water rests awhile;
When from the flowers there softly How God-Child hast Thou come
breathes
A bouquet the newborn dawn to meet, To earth in cave forlorn?
As on us she begins to smile.
Does Fortune now deride Thee?
With sadness I recall… recall
Thy face, in precious infancy, When Thou art scarcely born?
Oh mother, friend most dear to me, Ah, Woe! Celestial King,
Who gave to life a wondrous charm.
I yet recall a village plan, Who mortal from dost keep,
My joy, my family, my boon,
Besides the freshly cool and lagoon, Wouldn’t rather than be Soveriegn,
The spot for which my heart beats warm.
Be shepherd of Thy Sheep?
Ah, yes! my footsteps insecure
In your dark forests deeply sank;
And there by every river’s bank
I found refreshment and delight;
Within that rustic temple prayed
With childhood’s simple faith unfeigned
While cooling breezes, pure, unstained,
Would send my heart on rapturous flight.

I saw the Maker in the grandeur

Of your ancient hoary wood,
Ah, never in your refuge could
A mortal by regret be smitten;
And while upon your sky of blue
I gaze, my love nor tenderness
Could fail, for here on nature’s dress
My happiness itself was written.
  ALIANZA INTIMA ENTRE LA
Ah tender childhood, lovely town, Rich RELIGION Y LA BUENA
fount of my felicities, EDUCACION
Oh those harmonious melodies
Which put flight all dismal hours, Come As the climbing ivy over lofty elm
back to my heart once more!
Come back, as the birds return, Creeps tortuously, together the
At the budding of the flowers! adornment
 
Alas, farewell Eternal vigil I keep Of the verdant plain, embellishing
Each other and together growing, Education with its doctrines,
But should the kindly elm refuse its aid Shall walk in joy and generosity
The ivy would important and friendless Toward the Good, and everywhere
wither bestrew
So is Education to Religion The fragrant and luxuriant fruits of
Virtue.
By spiritual alliance bound.
Through Religion, Education gains
renown, and
Woe to the impious mind that blindly
spurning
The sapient teachings of Religion, this
Unpolluted fountain-head forsakes.

As the sprout, growing from the

pompous vine,
Proudly offers us its honeyed clusters
While the generous and loving sarment
Feeds its root so the fresh’ning waters
Of celestial virtue give new life
To Education true, shedding
On its warmth and light; because of them
The vine smells sweet and gives
delicious fruit.

Without Religion, Human Education

Is like unto a vessel struck by winds
Which, sore beset, of its helm deprived
By the roaring blows and buffets wields
His power until he proudly sends her
down
Into the deep abysses of the angered sea.

As heaven’s dew the meadow feeds and

strengthens
So that blooming flowers all the earth
Embroider in the days of spring; so also
If Religion holy nourishes
A La Juventud Filipina
Hold high the brow serene,
O youth, where now you stand;
Let the bright sheen
Of your grace be seen,
Fair hope of my fatherland!
 
Come now, thou genius grand,
And bring down inspiration;
With thy mighty hand,
Swifter than the wind's violation,
Raise the eager mind to higher station.
 
Come down with pleasing light
Of art and science to the fight,
O youth, and there untie
The chains that heavy lie,
Your spirit free to blight.
See how in flaming zone
Amid the shadows thrown,
The Spaniard'a holy hand
A crown's resplendent band
Proffers to this Indian land.
 
Thou, who now wouldst rise
On wings of rich emprise,
Seeking from Olympian skies
Songs of sweetest strain,
Softer than ambrosial rain;
Thou, whose voice divine
Rivals Philomel's refrain
And with varied line
Through the night benign
Frees mortality from pain;
 
Thou, who by sharp strife
Wakest thy mind to life ;
And the memory bright
Of thy genius' light
Makest immortal in its strength ;
 
And thou, in accents clear
Of Phoebus, to Apelles dear ;
Or by the brush's magic art
Takest from nature's store a part,
To fig it on the simple canvas' length ;
 
Go forth, and then the sacred fire
Of thy genius to the laurel may aspire ;
To spread around the fame,
And in victory acclaim,
Through wider spheres the human name.
Day, O happy day,
Fair Filipinas, for thy land!
So bless the Power to-day
That places in thy way
This favor and this fortune grand!
Mi Piden Versos
I the sea around me wrought
They bid me strike the lyre
so long now mute and broken,
but not a note can I waken
nor will my muse inspire!
She stammers coldly and babbles
when tortured by my mind;
She lies when she laughs and thrills
as she lies in her lamentation,
for in my sad isolation
my soul nor frolics nor feels.
II
There was a time, 'tis true,
but now that time has vanished
when indulgent love or friendship
called me a poet too.
Now of that time there lingers
hardly a memory,
as from a celebration
some mysterious refrain
that haunts the ears will remain
of the orchestra's actuation.
III
A scarce-grown plant I seem,
uprooted from the Orient,
where perfume is the atmosphere
and where life is a dream.
O land that is never forgotten!
And these have taught me to sing:
the birds with their melody,
the cataracts with their force
and, on the swollen shores,
the murmuring of the sea.
IV
While in my childhood days
I could smile upon her sunshine,
I felt in my bosom, seething,
a fierce volcano ablaze.
A poet was I, for I wanted
with my verses, with my breath,
to say to the swift wind: "Fly
and propagate her renown!
Praise her from zone to zone,
from the earth up to the sky!"
V
I left her! My native hearth,
a tree despoiled and shriveled,
no longer repeats the echo
of my old songs of mirth.
I sailed across the vast ocean,
craving to change my fate,
not noting, in my madness,
that, instead of the weal I sought,
the spectre of death and sadness.
VI
The dreams of younger hours,
love, enthusiasm, desire,
have been left there under the skies
of that fair land of flowers.
Oh, do not ask of my heart
that languishes, songs of love!
For, as without peace I tread
this desert of no surprises,
I feel that my soul agonizes
and that my spirit is dead.
A Las Flores de Heidelberg
Go to my country, go foreign flowers!
Planted by the traveler on his way,
And there beneath that sky of blue
That over my beloved towers
Speak for this traveler to say
What faith in his homeland he breathes
to you
Go and say, say that when the dawn
First drew your calyx open there
Beside the River Neckar chill
You saw him standing by you, very still
Reflecting on the primrose flush you
wear,
Say that when the morning light
Her toll of perfume from where you
wrung,
While she playfully whispered, “How I
love you!”
He too murmured here above you
Tender love songs in his native tongue
That when the rising sun the height
Of Koenigstuhi in the early morn first
spies;
Is pouring life in the valley, wood, and
grove,
He greets the sun as it begins to rise,
Which in his native land is blazing
straight above
And tell of them that day he staid
And plucked you from the border of the
path,
Amid the ruins of the feudal castle
By the River Neckar, and in the silver
shade
Tell them what he told you
As tenderly as he took
Your plants leaves and pressed them in a
book,
Where now its well worn pages close
enfold you
Carry, carry flowers of Rhine,
Love to every love of mine
Peace to my country and her fertile land,
Virtue to her women, courage to her
men,
Salute those darling once again
Who formed the sacred circle of our
home.
And when you reach the shore,
Each kiss I press upon you now,
Deposit on the opinions of the wind,
And those I love and honor above and
adore
Will feel my kisses carried their blow,
Ah, flowers, you may fare through
Conserving still, perhaps, your native
hue;
Yet, from far from fatherland, heroic
loam
To which you owe your life.
The perfume will be gone from you
For aroma is your soul; it cannot roam
Beyond the skies which saw it born, nor
ever forget
A Don Ricardo Carcinero
(Tagalog Translation)
Ngayon po ginoo’y isang taong ganap,
Kauna-unahang kayo ay tumapak.
Sa pampang na ito ng mga liwanag
Upang maging aming patnugot na tapat.
Magmula na noon, may sintang maalab,
Ma-gabi, ma-araw, inyong sinisikap
Ang ikagagaling naming lahat-lahat
Walang nililimot ang sikap na ingat,
Kayo ay may dulot na buhay at palad
Nang kayo’y dumatal sa aming
pampangiy
Iginagala ninyo ang inyong paningin, Nangagsikilos na ang tao sa bayan

At inyong mamasdan itong lupang giliw Nagigising na nga ang buong Dapitan

Na ulilat ligid ng lawa’t buhangin; Sa kanyang naluwat na pagkakahimlay.

Pinapalibhasa ang mga tiisin Walang atubilit walang agam-agam,

At sa buong lakas na hindi maligning Yaong nagsimula ay inaasahang

Sa ibabaw niyong ilog ng hilahil Hindi na aalis kung di tapos naman

At ng mga agos na hindi masupil, Ang kanyang Gawain na pinasimulan,

Inyong itinayo’y tunay na magaling, Sapagkat kung siya’y walang katakutan,

Na unang nakita nitong purok naming. Sa Dapita’y labis ang tiwalang taglay.

Pagkaraan nito’y maluwag na daang Sa bukang-liwayway na lubhang

masigla,
Patungo sa gubat ang inyong binuksan
Tagapagbalita ng gawang maganda,
Na walang panganib na madaraanan
Dumating ngayong paggalang ang dala
Sa lilim ng gayong mga kagubatan;
Ng Taga-Dapitang kasariwaan pa.
Sumigla ang libay at pati ang araw’y
Lalaki nang ganap bukas ng umaga’t
NApakita noo’t tumubo saan man
Sila ang babagbag sa lupain nila
Ang palay at mais na lubhang malabay,
At kalian paman ay hindi hahangga
Kaya nagkaroon ng maraming bahay,
Sa gawang paglimot –ito’y isang sala
Pati na ang dationg kakahuyan lamang
Ang utang na loob ng baying Masaya
Na tinatahnan ng mga halimaw.
Sa inyong hangarin sa tuwi-tuwina.
Ang mga lansangan, sa dapitan pook,
Higit pa sa isang punong nag-uutos,
Na noong nagdaa’y madilim na lubos,
Nasa paghahari’y matigas ang loob,
Nakapagbibigay sa lahat ng takot,
Kayo ay patuloy, kastilang mairog,
Ngayon ay nagngiti’t may ilaw ng lugod,
Na siya ng ama nitong aming purok;
Saanman ay balak na nais matapos
At sapagkat ngayon, mahal na patnugot
Saan may gawaaing walang patlang
halos; Kayo’y unang punong aming sinusunod,

Dito’y paaralan, doo’y daang lagos Ang baying sa inyo’y matapat nalingkod,

At doon sa isip nama’y hinihinog Dahil sa Espanyang watawat sumukob,

Kung pano dadalhi’t nang dito’y umagos Ituring, na ninyong anak ninyong
kupkop[,
Ang tubig ng linaw sa kasuyong bundok,
At kayo’y magulang na pag-asang lubos.
Sa kasuyong bundok
Kahima’t sa inyong mga pagbibigay,
Isang taon lamang ang nakararaa’y
At inyong makitang pipi’tparaang patay, And with verse and line severe
Na hindi marunong magbayad ng utang, Fling abroad a jest and jeer.

Pagganti sa inyong mga kabutihan,

Muse, that in the past inspired me,
Huwag sana ninyong sila’y pagkaitan And with songs of love hast fired me;
Go thou now to dull repose,
Ng inyong pagtingin at kawawa naman, For today in sordid prose
Na di makatagpo ng tingi na sana’y I must earn the gold that hired me.

Upang ipagtapat na kayo ay mahal, Now must I ponder deep,

Meditate, and struggle on;
Kaya ngat sa lungkot ng kanilang taglay; E’en sometimes I must weep;
Ay hindi masambit pati dinaramdam. For he who love would keep
Great pain has undergone.
Pinaklamalaki naming ninanasa,
Fled are the days of ease,
Na sa lupang itong hindi ninyo lupa’y The days of Love’s delight;
When flowers still would please
Makita rin niyo ang Inang dakila And give to suffering souls surcease
From pain and sorrow’s blight.
Gayon din ang araw at langit sa sutla;

Nawa’y magiging inyo itong aming One by one they have passed on,
mutya, All I loved and moved among;
Dead or married—from me gone,
Na parang dito na kayo naging bata; For all I place my heart upon
By fate adverse are stung.
Siya ay turuan ninyo ng adhikang
Go thou, too, O Muse, depart,
Mahalin ang Batas, saka ang paggawa’t Other regions fairer find;
For my land but offers art
Kung ang bansang ito’y di Galisyang For the laurel, chains that bind,
tuwa, For a temple, prisons blind.
Ang pag-ibig nami’y sagot nasasanla But before thou leavest me, speak:
Tell me with thy voice sublime,
Thou couldst ever from me seek
A Mi Musa A song of sorrow for the weak,
Defiance to the tyrant’s crime.
Invoked no longer is the Muse,
The lyre is out of date;
The poets it no longer use,
And youth its inspiration now imbues
With other form and state.

If today our fancies aught

Of verse would still require,
Helicon’s hill remains unsought;
And without heed we but inquire,
Why the coffee is not brought.

In the place of thought sincere

That our hearts may feel,
We must seize a pen of steel,