MY LAST FAREWELL

(Translated by Charles Derbyshire)

By Dr. Jose Rizal

(Rizal is the great Filipino hero and patriot, who is revered by his countrymen with the same fervor and veneration that Americans accord Washington and Lincoln. He was shot by the Spaniards on the morning of December 30, 1896, because he advocated reforms and preached independence. He wrote this poem in his cell the night before he was shot. It has been translated into almost every language and ranked as one of the best poems ever written.)

I die just when I see the dawn break
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day,
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt
take,

Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake,

To dye with its crimson thy waking ray.

My dreams, when life first opened to me,
My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high.
Were to see thy loved face, O gem of the
Orient sea,

From gloom and grief, from care and sorrow
free:
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.

Dream of my life, my living and burning
desire,

All hail! cries the soul that is now to take
flight;

All hail! And sweet it is for thee to expire!
To die for thy sake that thou may'st aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night.

If over my grave some day thou seest grow
In the grassy sod, an humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb
below

The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm
power.

Let the moon beam over me soft and serene,
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes,
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it thrill there its hymn of peace to my
ashes.

Let the sun draw its vapors up to the sky And heavenward in purity hear my tardy protest;

My fatherland adored, that sadness to my sorrow lends,

Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-bye. I give thee all: parents and kindred and friends;

For I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,

Where faith can never kill, and God reigns e'er on high.

Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,
Friends of my childhood in the home depress'd!
Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome
day!

Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that
lighten'd my way,

Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is rest!