By: Jaime L.

An Lim

He received the following
awards:
❑ Don Carlos Palanca
Memorial Awards for
Literature
❑ Academy of American Poets
in 1981 at Indiana University
❑ Tutungi Award in 1983
❑ Ellis Literary Award in 1984
❑ 2000 Gawad Pambansang
Alagad ni Balagtas by the
Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa
Pilipinas
❖ A known writer of poems, novels, essays, and short fiction is Jaime
An Lim. He was born on January 7, 1946, in Cagayan de Oro City.
He finished his Bachelor of Arts in English degree cum laude from
Mindanao State University in 1968. He went to the United States in
1980 to receive his Master of Arts in Comparative Literature,
Master of Arts in Education, and Doctor of Philosophy in Literature
at Indiana University in Bloomington.
❖ As a writer, he wrote essays about the novels of Maximo Kalaw,
Jaime Laya, Steven Javellana, Edilberto Tiempo, and Wilfredo
Nollado which are compiled in his book entitled Literature and
Politics: The Colonial Experience In Nine Philippine Novels
published in 1993.
❖ He wrote for publications like the Philippine Free Press, Focus, and
Panorama. He became a writing fellow at the Silliman National
Writers Workshop and UP Writers Workshop a year after.
❖ Lim retired as a professor of English from the Mindanao State
University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) at the age of 70.
In the same institution, he organized the Mindanao Creative
Writers Group, Inc., and founded the Iligan National Writers
Workshop. He is also the Dean of the Institute of Arts and Sciences
of Far Eastern University in Manila.
These medals burn like molten lead
upon my breast. This sword heavy
with tassel and gilt, hampers my stride.¹
I have not asked for this burden.
I have not wished to alter the lay and order
of the stars, content to let the sun lord the skies,
The sea crawl at the foot of the hills, the eagle
soar no higher than the span of its sight.
Yet what needs to be done has to be done.²
Not that I love you any less, you must
believe that, but I love our country more.
You, who have always fought for the good
of the many should understand this.
Too long the land lies wounded, the house divided:
child from mother, husband from wife, brother
from brother, a scatter of reeds buckling
under the slightest blow. One unfurling
under one sky, hearts beating to one marshal
drummer.
Isn’t that your dream, too, worthy of the supreme
sacrifice? I have bowed my head in the lonely room
of my conscience. I have, looked into the darkness
of my soul and heard my thoughts pace
the long lightless corridors of the night.
And found the only answer you would have wished.
Were I in your place, I would ask for nothing less.
I send you to a hero’s death while I shall remain
a footnote in history, my name shrouded in gross
speculations. My share of our common sacrifice.
So go in peace and meet your destiny, my brother,
For all our sake even as the night bleeds into
morning.

Go, Andres. Let the healing begin.³

▪The poem is an elegy and uses paradox and
antithesis to present the tragedy of poet’s
situation clearly. Antithesis means setting
opposites against each other: prime of youth /
frost of cares (from the first line). While paradox
is self-contradictory statements, yet true which
can be found in every line of every stanza in this
poem.
▪The poet’s metaphorical skill is coupled with a
clever use of tense to suggest the blurring of past
and present. The repetition of “now” in the last
line of each stanza has the effect of suggesting a
passage of time so swift that past and present are
telescoped: “And now I live, and now my life is
done.”
▪ The poem is expressing the feeling of a man awaiting
his death and what goes on the poet’s mind. Along
the message that no one wants to die young. The
executing order soon to be implemented makes the
poet recall his friend’s short life and makes him
evaluate what life has given to his friend. Like the
execution, the poet considers that everything in life is
unexpected and unnatural.
My initials thoughts were, someone was being executed for someone's love of his country, but I couldn't identify who these
were until I read the last line. After reading the last line, it was all clear to me. The addressee was Andres Bonifacio. This was
obvious since no other Andres was known to have been executed anyways. The overall impression I got from the poem was
that the persona seems to be contemplating on his actions. He ponders deeply and says that he really didn't want any of
these to happen. With a little recalling of my history lessons, Emilio Aguinaldo came into my mind as the possible persona. I
then looked at the different clues of the poem that pointed to this, and it seems that my guess was plausible. The issue I have
with this poem is the persona's sincerity. I couldn't tell even though he says that he loves both his country and Andres, since
he still decides to push through with the execution. He also says that he sends Bonifacio to a "hero's death”, the most
honorable way to die during the colonization period. If Aguinaldo was the one to be executed, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be
thinking and saying those things, which makes me question his sincerity. My favorite lines in the poem were, "Too long the
land lies wounded, the house divided: / child from mother, husband from wife, brother/ from brother," because it shows how
serious the division in their group is. It was really close to their heart, like family. The historical background of this poem
seems accurate, although some lines may be questionable. Nevertheless, considering all the other Filipino poems I've read
for school before, this one has to be my favorite.

On May 10, 1897, Andres Bonifacio, the Father of the Philippine Revolution and founder of the Katipunan, and
his brother Procopio were executed in the mountains of Maragondon, Cavite by General Emilio Aguinaldo's men for
being guilty of treason and sedition. This occurred after the death sentence was commuted to indefinite exile by
Aguinaldo.