WORKS OF WELL-KNOWN LOCAL AND FOREIGN WRITERS
FOREIGN
Figure 1. Robert Frost
Figure 2. Robert Frost's Book
Fire and Ice
By Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
 Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Grief
By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless;

That only men incredulous of despair,
Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air
Beat upward to God’s throne in loud access
Of shrieking and reproach. Full desertness,
In souls as countries, lieth silent-bare
Under the blanching, vertical eye-glare
Of the absolute heavens. Deep-hearted man, express
Grief for thy dead in silence like to death—
Most like a monumental statue set
In everlasting watch and moveless woe
Figure 3. Elizabeth's Famous
Poem Compilation
Till itself crumble to the dust beneath.
Touch it; the marble eyelids are not wet:
If it could weep, it could arise and go.

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Figure 4. Elizabeth Barrett- Browning
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
LOCAL

Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa by Andres Bonifacio was hailed as

the best of these poems. Bonifacio was the founder of Katipunan
and the leader of the revolution of 1896 against Spanish
colonialism.

PAG-IBIG SA TINUBUANG LUPA

Andres Bonifacio

Aling pag-ibig pa ang hihigit kaya

Sa pagkadalisay at pagkadakila
Gaya ng pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa,
Aling pag-ibig pa? Wala na nga wala.
Walang mahalagang hindi inihandog
Ng may pusong wagas sa bayang nagkupkop.
Dugo, yaman, dunong, katiisa’t pagod:
Buhay ma’y abuting magkalagot-lagot
Ang nakaraang panahon ng aliw
Ang inaasahang araw na darating
Ng pagkatimawa ng mga alipin
Liban pa sa bayan saan tatanghalin?
Sa aba ng abang mawalay sa bayan
Gunita ma’y laging sakbibi ng lumbay
Walang alaalang inaasam-asam
Kundi ang makita lupang tinubuan.
Kayong nalagasan ng bunga’t bulaklak
Kahoy niyaring buhay na nilanta’t sukat
Ng bala-balaki’t makapal na hirap
Muling manariwa’t sa baya’y lumiyag
Ipakahandog-handog ang buong pag-ibig
Hanggang sa may dugo’y ubusing itigis
Kung sa pagtatanggol buhay ang kapalit
Ito’y kapalaran at tunay na langit
Aling pag-ibig pa ang hihigit kaya
Sa pagkadalisay at pagkadakila
Gaya ng pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa
Aling pag-ibig pa wala na nga wala
Gaya ng pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa
Aling pag-ibig pa? Wala na nga wala

Amado Hernandez’s Kung Tuyo na Ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan, one of the poems
often read during anti-imperialist rallies. Hernandez was a poet and labor organizer. He
served as an intelligence officer of the Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Hukbalahap), an
armed group against Japanese invasion during World War II. During the US’s direct
colonial rule, Hernandez was detained for rebellion.
 Lumuha ka, aking Bayan; buong lungkot mong iluha
Ang kawawang kapalaran ng lupain mong kawawa:
Ang bandilang sagisag mo’y lukob ng dayong bandila,
Pati wikang minana mo’y busabos ng ibang wika,
Ganito ring araw nang agawan ka ng laya,
Labintatlo ng Agosto nang saklutin ang Maynila,

Lumuha ka, habang sila ay palalong nagdiriwang,

Sa libingan ng maliit, ang malaki’y may libingan;
Katulad mo ay si Huli, naaliping bayad-utang,
Katulad mo ay si Sisa, binaliw ng kahirapan;
Walang lakas na magtanggol, walang tapang na lumaban,
Tumataghoy, kung paslangin; tumatangis, kung nakawan!

(Excerpt from Hernandez’s Kung Tuyo na Ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan)

Another classic poem written in 1896, Mi Ultimo Adios by Jose Rizal, was an
inevitable choice. The original poem has been translated to Filipino and foreign languages
by various poets.

“Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress’d,

Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life’s best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest,
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.”
(My Last Farewell, Mi Ultimo Adios English Translation)
 Jose Corazon de Jesus’s Ang Bayan Ko is a popular song in almost every struggle,
from the anti-U.S. protests of the 1920s and ‘30s, to the resistance movement against the
Japanese invasion in the ‘40s, the First Quarter Storm of the ‘70s and the 1986 People
Power. De Jesus, also known as Huseng Batute, is popular for his traditional forms of
poetry.

Ang bayan kong Pilipinas

Lupain ng ginto't bulaklak
Pag-ibig ang sa kanyang palad
Nag-alay ng ganda't dilag.
At sa kanyang yumi at ganda
Dayuhan ay nahalina
Bayan ko, binihag ka
Nasadlak sa dusa.
Ibon mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag
Ang di magnasang makaalpas!
Pilipinas kong minumutya
Pugad ng luha ko't dalita
Aking adhika,
Makita kang sakdal laya!

Sources:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org
https://poets.org/poem/how-do-i-love-thee-sonnet-43
https://www.bulatlat.com/news/