MY LAST FAREWELL
By: Jose Rizal
Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress'd For our mothers that bitterly their woes have cried,
Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!, For widows and orphans, for captives by torture
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best, tried
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest And then for thyself that redemption thou mayst
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost. gain.
On the field of battle, 'mid the frenzy of fight, And when the dark night wraps the graveyard
Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed; around
The place matters not-cypress or laurel or lily white, With only the dead in their vigil to see
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom's Break not my repose or the mystery profound
plight, And perchance thou mayst hear a sad hymn resound
T is ever the same, to serve our home and country's 'T is I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.
need.
And even my grave is remembered no more
I die just when I see the dawn break, Unmark'd by never a cross nor a stone
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day; Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it o'er
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take, That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake Before into nothingness at last they are blown.
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.
Then will oblivion bring to me no care
My dreams, when life first opened to me, As over thy vales and plains I sweep;
My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high, Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and air
Were to see thy lov'd face, O gem of the Orient sea With color and light, with song and lament I fare,
From gloom and grief, from care and sorrow free; Ever repeating the faith that I keep.
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.
My Fatherland ador'd, that sadness to my sorrow
Dream of my life, my living and burning desire, lends
All hail ! cries the soul that is now to take flight; Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-by!
All hail ! And sweet it is for thee to expire ; I give thee all: parents and kindred and friends
To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire; For I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,
And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night. Where faith can never kill, and God reigns e'er on
If over my grave some day thou seest grow, high!
In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so, Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb below Friends of my childhood in the home dispossessed !
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day !
power. Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened my
way;
Let the moon beam over me soft and serene, Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes, rest !
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen ;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.
Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky,
And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest
Let some kind soul o 'er my untimely fate sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, 0 my country, that in God I may rest.
Pray for all those that hapless have died,
For all who have suffered the unmeasur'd pain;
