“Like the Molave”

by Zulueta da Costa
“Like the Molave”
Reporters:
Monique Rendoque
Daphne Anne Reyes
Fritz Geralt Omangay
Jan Joel Sulit
Jose
P.
Rizal
 Jose P. Rizal
Our National Hero who died for
the freedom of our country. He
tried to fight by pen, but the
hearts of the Spaniards were
too hard. Rizal turned out and
decided to spare his life
because maybe when a drop of
his blood would fall, the hard
stones would soften. But we all
know that stones would never
change…
 Not yet Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace:
There are a thousand waters to be spanned;
There are a thousand mountains to be crossed;
There are a thousand crosses to be borne.
Our shoulders are not strong our sinews are
Grown flaccid with dependence, smug with ease
Under another’s wing.

Rest not in peace;

Not yet Rizal, not yet. The land has need
Of young blood – and,
what younger than your own,
Forever spilled in the
great name of freedom,
The free?

Not you alone, Rizal.

And spirits of the martyred brave,
arise!
Arise and scour the land!
Shed once again
Your willing blood!
Infuse the vibrant red
Into our thin anaemic veins; until
We pick up your
Promethean tools and, strong,
 Out of the depthless matrix of faith
In us, and on the silent cliffs of freedom,
We carve for all time your marmoreal dream!
Until our people, seeing are become
Like the molave, firm, resilient, staunch,
Rising on the hillside unafraid.
Strong in its own fibre; yes, like the Molave!

***
 Not yet, Rizal, not yet.
The glory hour will come.
Out of the silent dreaming,
From the seven thousand-fold silence,
We shall emerge, saying:
WE ARE FILIPINOS !
And no longer be ashamed.
Sleep not in peace.
The dream is not yet fully carved,
Hard the wood,
but harder the blows.
Yet the molave will stand;
Yet the molave monument will rise,
And gods walk on brown legs.

~*End*~
Vocabulary
Words
 Borne
*There are a thousand crosses to
be borne.

(bôrne)
- To carry.
 Sinew
*Our shoulders are not strong
our sinews are

(sin‘ū)
- A source of
power or strength.
 Flaccid
*Grown flaccid with dependence

(flak’sid)
- Soft and limp;
flabby; weak.
 Smug
* Grown flaccid with dependence,
smug with ease

(smug)
- Annoyingly self-
satisfied.
 Matrix
*Out of the depthless matrix
of your faith
(mā’triks)
- that within which someone originates,
takes form, etc. : specifically a mold for
the face of a type or for a printing plate.
 Resilient
*Like the molave, firm,
resilient, staunch
(ri-zil’iənt)
-recovering strength,
spirits, etc. quickly.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the molave compared
to?
• A. Blood
• B. Fibre
• C. Cliffs for freedom
• D. Faith
 2. What does the writer want to
stop Rizal from?
• A. The Cliff
• B. Dreams
• C. Smug
• D. Resting in Peace
3. What is not yet fully carved in
the last stanza?
• A. Dream
• B. Stand
• C. Love
• D. Unity
 4. To whom is the poem
addressed?
• A. Rizal
• B. Jacinto
• C. Filipinos
• D. Bonifacio
 5. What is the meaning of the
word “Flaccid”?
• A. Healthy
• B. Weak
• C. Abundant
• D. Strong
THANK YOU