INVICTUS

William Earnest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul. 

Analysis
Invictus, meaning "unconquerable" or "undefeated" in Latin, is a poem by William Ernest Henley. The poem was written while Henley was in the hospital being treated for tuberculosis of the bone, also known as Pott's disease. He had had the disease since he was very young, and his foot had been amputated shortly before he wrote the poem. This poem is about courage in the face of death, and holding on to one's own dignity despite the indignities life places before us. 


In the first stanza the poem's speaker prays in the dark to "whatever gods may be" a prayer of thanks for his "unconquerable soul." Several things are apparent from the outset: First, the speaker is in some sort of metaphorical darkness, perhaps the darkness of despair. Second, he does not pray for strength, but gives thanks for the strength that he already has. Third, he seems rather flippant about who he is or is not praying to; it is almost a prayer to himself at this point, but not quite. 

The seeming agnosticism of the first stanza continues in the second. He does not talk about God's will or even fate; instead he speaks of "the fell clutch of circumstance" and "the bludeonings of chance," and asserts that he has overcome these bravely and without complaint. 

The third stanza is about death and what a trifle it seems to the speaker of the poem. This "place of wrath and tears", this life, it seems, is not full enough of pain and horror to frighten the poem's speaker. And death, "the Horror of the shade," could not possibly worry him, being an end to "wrath and tears". Notice here that he is not concerned in any way about an afterlife. Death is merely an end to suffering for our speaker. Nothing of any concern seems to lie beyond for him until.... 

The one line of this poem that seems to give people the most trouble is this reference to a "strait gate". "It matters not how strait the gate" is either a reference to John Bunyan's tract The Strait Gate, or Great Difficulty of Going to Heaven (1676), or the the scripture Bunyan got his title from Matthew 7:13, 14. 


The poet William Ernest Henley would likely have been familiar with one or both of these sources. So we can read the stanza as an acceptance of whatever judgment or doom death may bring. He accepts no master but himself. He bows to no authority. He is his own god, guide and judge. He is the Captain.

(Henley was a lifelong atheist, and, with his missing leg and braggadocio, he was also the inspiration for the character of Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stephenson's Treasure Island, a Captain indeed.)

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_meaning_of_the_poem_Invictus#ixzz1elMpopkE

Ecclesiastes 3

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

New International Version (NIV)

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

 ¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens: ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

The Rose

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
by E. E. Cummings
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond any experience,your eyes have their silence: in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which i cannot touch because they are too near your slightest look easily will unclose me though i have closed myself as fingers, you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose or if your wish be to close me, i and my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly, as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending; nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility:whose texture compels me with the color of its countries, rendering death and forever with each breathing (i do not know what it is about you that closes and opens;only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses) nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands It is a common reaction by all readers of Cummings that to analyze his works is a sacrilege. But for academic reasons, I have attempted to break down this already-audible poem to better understand Cummings’ brilliant command for words and images. The first line, and also the title depicts the poet’s condition with regards to this particular poem and all the feelings that he aims to convey to his muse and to his readers. “Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond any experience…” describes the poet’s inexperience with respect to his feelings towards his muse, as if he is in a place that he has never gone before. In this same stanza, Cummings describes how his muse affects him tremendously without much effort from her as seen in the third line of the first stanza. The last line of the same stanza however, describes the fragile situation they are in and perhaps this line reveals Cummings’ difficulty in expressing his love for his muse. By the use of several tools of imagery, Cummings was able to depict the power of the muse over the poet, how she could easily open and close the doors of his emotions. And even with Cummings’ futile resistance, the muse is able to skillfully open and close him without even trying. Cummings ultimately surrendered in the third stanza by stating that upon the wish of his muse he would stop and cease himself from expressing and finally disappear. The third stanza is the peak of Cummings’ declaration of unconditional love, despite the intensity of his love and despite his fear (compared to the rose’s fear of death), he was willing to sacrifice what he truly feels if that is his muse’s desire. Finally in the last stanza, Cummings considered his felling towards the muse as a mystery; in the same manner, that love for him is a mystery. That he could never explain the woman’s effect on him and that no matter how hard he tries to compare the woman, his feelings and the situation to the world’s mysteries and beauty… he knows that he still will not be able to define or more so explain it. The last and final line of this poem described with great precision, how the girl can penetrate his deepest feelings when he created a parallel contrast with the inability of the rain to sip through the core of a rose bud. In general, the flower or the rose that the poem speaks of is the poet himself or the feelings of the poet and how the muse has the power to open and close this symbolic rose upon her wishes. After reading Cummings through this particular poem, it is but natural to say that he is effective in employing his skills and mastery of imagery. It is a love poem but unlike many love poems, Cummings gently sprinkled his poem with images while the poem gently oozed with sentimentality and intense feelings. And not only did he utilize the present existing metaphors and imagery but he also invented his own images as seen in “your eyes have their silence” which is deviant of the traditional imagery, “your eyes speak…” or any depiction of the eyes as means to communicate. Also in third and fourth line of the third stanza, where Cummings described fear. It is an effective poem because Cummings was able to get his message across using a manner cognitive of beauty and literary esthetics. He was capable of describing the intensity as well as the fragility of love… its mysteries by inventing and reinventing metaphors, similes and personifications. Cummings once again led us into his world of images and allowed to us to explore the simplicity of his words and the complexities they represent through the most crucial and most sensitive of all metaphors; love and man.

Sonnets from Portuguese

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) wrote a series of 44 sonnets, in secret, about the intense love she felt for her husband-to-be, poet Robert Browning. She called this series Sonnets From the Portuguese, a title based on the pet name Robert gave her: "my little Portugee." "Sonnet 43" was the next-to-last sonnet in this series. In composing her sonnets, she had two types of sonnet formats from which to choose: the Italian model popularized by Petrarch (1304-1374) and the English model popularized by Shakespeare (1564-1616). She chose Petrarch's model. For an in-depth discussion and analysis of both sonnet models, click here. 

Sonnet 43
HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

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 everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

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,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

."Sonnet 43" expresses the poet’s intense love for her husband-to-be, Robert Browning. So intense is her love for him, she says, that it rises to the spiritual level (Lines 3 and 4). She loves him freely, without coercion; she loves him purely, without expectation of personal gain. She even loves him with an intensity of the suffering (passion: Line 9) resembling that of Christ on the cross, and she loves him in the way that she loved saints as a child. Moreover, she expects to continue to love him after death.

Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

The Sonnets are Shakespeare's most popular works, and a few of them, such as Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day), Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds), and Sonnet 73 (That time of year thou mayst in me behold), have become the most widely-read poems in all of English literature.

Composition Date of the Sonnets

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, likely composed over an extended period from 1592 to 1598, the year in which Francis Meres referred to Shakespeare's "sugred sonnets":

The witty soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous & honey-tongued Shakespeare, witness his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugared sonnets among his private friends, &c. (Palladis Tamia: Wit's Treasury)

In 1609 Thomas Thorpe published Shakespeare's sonnets, no doubt without the author's permission, in quarto format, along with Shakespeare's long poem, The Passionate Pilgrim. The sonnets were dedicated to a W. H., whose identity remains a mystery, although William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke, is frequently suggested because Shakespeare's First Folio (1623) was also dedicated to him.

Narrative of the Sonnets
The majority of the sonnets (1-126) are addressed to a young man, with whom the poet has an intense romantic relationship. The poet spends the first seventeen sonnets trying to convince the young man to marry and have children; beautiful children that will look just like their father, ensuring his immortality. Many of the remaining sonnets in the young man sequence focus on the power of poetry and pure love to defeat death and "all oblivious enmity" (55.9).
The final sonnets (127-154) are addressed to a promiscuous and scheming woman known to modern readers as the dark lady. Both the poet and his young man have become obsessed with the raven-haired temptress in these sonnets, and the poet's whole being is at odds with his insatiable "sickly appetite" (147.4). The tone is distressing, with language of sensual feasting, uncontrollable urges, and sinful consumption.

• For a closer look at the negative aspects of the poet's relationship with the young man and his mistress, please seeSonnet 75 and Sonnet 147.
• For a celebration of the love between the young man and the poet, see Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 29.
• For the poet's views on the mortality of the young man, see Sonnet 73.
• For the poet’s description of his mistress, see Sonnet 130.

The question remains whether the poet is expressing Shakespeare's personal feelings. Since we know next to nothing about Shakespeare's personal life, we have little reason or right not to read the collected sonnets as a work of fiction, just as we would read his plays or long poems.

How to Analyze a Shakespearean Sonnet

1. Find the Theme
Although love is the overarching theme of the sonnets, there are three specific underlying themes: (1) the brevity of life, (2) the transience of beauty, and (3) the trappings of desire. The first two of these underlying themes are the focus of the early sonnets addressed to the young man (in particular Sonnets 1-17) where the poet argues that having children to carry on one's beauty is the only way to conquer the ravages of time. In the middle sonnets of the young man sequence the poet tries to immortalize the young man through his own poetry (the most famous examples being Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 55). In the late sonnets of the young man sequence there is a shift to pure love as the solution to mortality (as in Sonnet 116). When choosing a sonnet to analyze it is beneficial to explore the theme as it relates to the sonnets around it.



2. Examine the Literary Devices
Shakespeare likely did not write his sonnets with a conscious emphasis on literary devices, and early editors of the sonnets paid little attention to such devices (with the exception of metaphor and allusion). However, in the era of postmodern literary theory and close reading, much weight is given to the construction or deconstruction of the sonnets and Shakespeare's use of figures of speech such as alliteration, assonance, antithesis, enjambment, metonymy, synecdoche,oxymoron, personification, and internal rhyme. Much modern criticism¹ also places heavy emphasis on the sexual puns and double entendres in the sonnets (blood warm (2.14) being both blood and semen, etc). For more on this please see the commentary for Sonnet 75.



. Find a Copy of the Oxford English Dictionary
Researching the history of words Shakespeare used is a sure way to gain a greater understanding of the sonnets and will sometimes lead to new and fascinating commentary. Words that today have a specific meaning, such as hideous (seeSonnet 12) or gaudy (see Sonnet 1) often could have multiple meanings as the rapidly-changing language of the time was still heavily influenced by Old French and Middle and Old English. The OED is available online by subscription, as are a couple of free etymological dictionaries.

Sonnet 43 & Sonnet 14 and Sonnet 18 William Shakespeare

Sonnet 43 
When most I wink then do mine eyes best see

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow's form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.

SONNET 14

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
Or say with princes if it shall go well,
By oft predict that I in heaven find:
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art
As truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.

SONNET 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

FILIPINO POETS

Clodualdo del Mundo

     Clodualdo del Mundo was born in Manila in 1911. Liwayway editor, critic, scholar, and head of TANIW (Taliba ng Inang Wika). Winner of a presidential award on literature and nationalism. Pioneer in modern drama, having presented the first modern Tagalog zarzuela, Anong Tamis ng mga Sandali sa Sariling Bayan, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the first modern opera with Balagtas as hero. Wrote a great number of “novels” for television, radio, and the local cinema, receiving the FAMAS award for one of his stories. In poetry, he was among the first to write in free verse. His Ang Kanyang mga Mata (patterned after the Japanese haiku) is a gem in its lucidity and restraint. He passed away on October 5, 1977. Ang Kanyang Mga Mata is a short Tagalog love poem by Clodualdo del Mundo. The title is translated into English as "Her Eyes."

Rolando Tinio, National Artist

     This great Filipino poet was a National Artist for Theater and Literature and was in the first group of inductees into the Palanca Hall of Fame in 1995.  A native of Tondo, Manila, he was born in 1937 and died in 1997.

     Rolando (Santos) Tinio is famous for being a playwright, poet and translator. He was born in Tondo. Date of birth: March 5, 1997. Died in Manila in on July 7, 1997. Belonged to the anti-Romantic group of Tagalog poets known as the Bagay (Object) group who describe things and avoid giving interpretations. The Grandmother describes a senile, cranky grandmother; this poem gives a glimpse into the ways of a typical Filipino household at dusk when the Angelus prayer is announced. 

Poetry: Sitsit sa Kulilig (Whistling at Cicadas, 1972); Dunung-Dunungan (Pedantry, 1975);Kristal na Uniberso (Crystal Universe, 1989); Trick of Mirrors (1993) 
EXAMPLE OF POETRY TRANSLATION BY ROLANDO TINIO:
Tagalog-English translation of Florante at Laura excerpt

Virgilio Almario, National Artist

   

     This great Filipino poet is known by his pen name "Rio Alma."

     Virgilio Almario was born in San, Miguel, Bulacan. Date of birth: March 9, 1944. More known by his pen name “Rio Alma.” Also famous as a translator of poems, plays, and novels, particularly of the works of Jose Rizal. Won the Palanca Award for Poetry of 1970 for his Peregrinasyon at Iba pang mga Tula. Has a broad knowledge of world poetry particularly of the contemporary school. His themes range from nature and love to contemporary problems. His “Dolores” describes a teacher dreaming of her past.

POETRY COLLECTIONS of Virgilio Almario:

Kung Bakit Kailangan Ang Himala (University of the Philippines Press, 2007)

Tatlong Pasyon Para sa Ating Panahon (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2007)

Teo Baylen

     This great Filipino poet is also known by the initials TSB. 
     Teo Baylen was born in Noveleta, Cavite, in 1904. The timeliness and timelessness of his work is attested to by such awards as the Cultural Heritage (1962-1963), the Palanca (1965, 1972), and the U.N. (1965). The symbols Pinsel at Pamansing (Brush and Fish Hook), the title of his 1967 poetry collection, suggest his method and his aim. His imagery is Biblical — of caves, wells, pastures, lambs, altars — and his goal is to point out (like T.S. Eliot) that our so-called modern civilization with its godless “isms” has succeeded only in creating a Frankenstinian monster. 

TAGALOG POETRY BY TEO S. BAYLEN:

Mga Sugat ng Siglo (Wounds of the Century)
Poetry collections: Tinig ng Darating, Pinsel at Pamansing, Kalabaw at Buffalo, RX 

Lamberto E. Antonio

     This great Filipino poet has won the Palanca award ten times!
     Lamberto E. Antonio was born in Manila in 1946. Former editor of the Univeristy of the East's newspaper Dawn. Has won the Palanca award ten times. His poetry has been termed “a savage blow against regular versification.” Also an essayist, translator and short-story writer. Wrote Insiang (1978), the very first Filipino movie shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Pingkian at Apat Pang Aklat ng Tunggalian (1997)

Julian Cruz Balmaceda

This great Filipino writer was also known by his initials JCB.

     Julian Cruz Balmaceda was born in Orion, Bataan. Date of birth: 28th of January, 1885. Death: September 18, 1946. Better known as a playwright (penned “Who are You?”). Wrote “Wound of the Heart” when he was only fourteen years old. Won first place in a competition by the Bureau of Posts, 1928, for his “Ang Piso ni Anita.” Also known as a novelist with daring themes and deft characterization. A poet who loved contests of Tagalog poetry (he won an award for his defense of “Tomorrow” against the “Yesterday” and “Today” of Regalado and Ramos. Also published a few long poems such as "Sa Bayan ni Plaridel,” “Anak ni Eba,” etc. As a critic, author of “The Three Periods of Tagalog Drama” and made several linguistic studies. 

TAGALOG POEMS BY JULIAN CRUZ BALMACEDA:

Kung Mamili Ang Dalaga (How a Single Girl Chooses) - a humorous poem in Tagalog

O Sintang Lupa (Oh, Beloved Land) - his co-translation of the original Spanish lyrics of the Philippine national anthem

Jose Rizal, Filipino National Hero

His nickname was Pepe (from Giuseppe / Joseph).

     According to many, Jose Rizal is the greatest genius and hero of the Philippines. He wrote two novels that energized the nationalism movement and the revolution during the time of the Spaniards: Noli Me Tangere (The Social Cancer) and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed). Like the works of Shakespeare, his writings are interpreted to have various meanings. Among the most ardent of his admirers are the Kababaihang Rizalista and The Knights of Rizal. His “Last Farewell” was written at Fort Santiago (and is said to have been smuggled out inside an oil lamp). Appreciated not only by Filipinos but also by other countries that use Spanish. He was born in Calamba, Laguna, on June 19, 1861. He was killed on December 30, 1896.

MOST FAMOUS POEM BY JOSE RIZAL:

Mi Ultimo Adios (written in Spanish, translated into English as Last Farewell and into Tagalog as Huling Paalam and also as Ang Aking Huling Paalam)

Jose Corazon de Jesus

He was known as the King of the Balagtasan. José Corazón de Jesús was born in Manila on November 22, 1896. He wrote Tagalog poetry during the American occupation of the Philippines (1901-1946). His most famous work is the Tagalog poemBayan Ko (My Country, 1929), which was used as lyrics for a patriotic song that became popular during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the 1980s. His pen name was Huseng Batute. He died on May 26, 1932, and is buried in Manila's North Cemetery.

TAGALOG POEMS BY JOSE CORAZON DE JESUS:

Ang Tren (The Train)
a Tagalog poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus

Ang Posporo Ng Diyos (The Matchstick of God)
a metaphorical Tagalog poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus

Bayan Ko (My Country)
a patriotic Tagalog poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus

Kahit Saan (Wherever)
a Tagalog love poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus

Ang Magandang Parol (The Beautiful Christmas Lantern)
a Tagalog poem about a beloved grandfather

Biyolin (Violin)
a metaphorical Tagalog poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus

Agaw-Dilim (Twilight)
a Tagalog poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus

Itanong mo Sa Bituin (Ask the Stars)
a Tagalog love poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus

David Mamaril

This great Filipino poet is known as the Makatang Caviteño. 
     David T. Mamaril is a writer and declaimer of Tagalog poetry. He was born in Noveleta, Cavite, on March 17, 1918. Known as a journalist as well, he is among the few top poets in the country. His mother is from Cavite while his father is from Pangasinan. Initially wrote verses in English before writing in his own language. Served in the United States Navy before the outbreak of the Second World War. Wrote many portada poems for Liwayway and other magazines. Became a writer of Mabuhay-DMHM, and wrote weekly poems for two and a half years. His poems were anthologized in Parnasong Tagalog ni AGA and various schoolbooks. Won many literature awards, such as those from the Women’s International Guild, the Juan Luna Centennial, Rizal Centennial and many others. On April 2 (Balagtas Day), 1971, he was crowned King of Lyric Poetry and honored at the Philippine National Library.

TAGALOG POEMS by David T. Mamaril:

Panggabing Hangin (Evening Wind) is a plaintive, wistful poem that recalls the fact that the poet was a sailor in US navy before World War II.

Liham na Walang Titik; Ina, Oh, Ang Ina; Ang Unang Pag-ibig; Mga Tinik at Bulaklak; Maliit na Pag-ibig; Talulot ng Umaga; Kayumangging Manggagawa; Ikaw Rin; Ang mga Mata Mo; Hindi Kita Malimot; Walang Maliw; Pakikipagtunggali at Pag-ibig; Mga Liham ng Diyos 

Benigno Zamora

     Benigno Zamora was once chief of the section on Secondary Instruction and Supervision in Pilipino of the Department of City Schools. Former member of the Institute of National Language. Published his first short story at the age of eighteen. Wrote plays, zarzuelas, essays and lyrical poetry on themes that were popular yet charming (love, faith, and nostalgia for home). The last is found in “Ang Aking Tahanan,” composed while the poet worked as a spy against the Japanese during the Second World War II.

Jose Garcia Villa

José García Villa's works include Philippine Short Stories, best 25 stories of 1928 (1929); Footnote to Youth, short stories (1933); Many Voices, poems (1939); Poems (1941); Have Come Am Here, poems (1941); Selected Poems and New (1942); A Doveglion Book of Philippine Poetry (1962); The Anchored Angel (1999)

Lyrics 18
from Jose Garcia Villa 55 Poems

Be beautiful, noble, like the antique ant,
Who bore the storms as he bore the sun,
Wearing neither gown nor helmet,
Though he was archbishop and soldier:
Wore only his own flesh.

Salute characters with gracious dignity:
Though what these are is left to
Your own terms. Exact: the universe is
Not so small but these will be found
Somewhere: Exact: they will be found.
.
Speak with great moderation: but think
With great fierceness, burning passion:
Though what the ant thought
No annals reveal, nor his descendants
Break the seal.

Trace the tracelessness of the ant,
Every ant has reached this perfection.
As he comes, so he goes,
Flowing as water flows,
Essential but secret like a rose.

Bienvenido Lumbera, National Artist

Sadness

Sweet little songs I make,
Tunes so pure and full of love.
When lovers are timid and mute,
I give them voice, I make them bold.

Once I bid a word to come
And help me put together a poem.
From far and near, from wherever,
The word brought the poem warmth.

Each word I painstakingly refine,
And I wash the impoverished tongue.
I soothe and salve the cry of pain,
I banish any trace of tears.

But sadness I cannot send away-
Its little waves lap and leave,
Lap and leave the shore of the heart,
This moment a whisper, next a storm.

Cirilo Bautista

Pedagogic
Cirilo Bautista

I walked towards the falling woods
to teach the trees all that I could

of time and birth, the language of men,
the virtues of hate and loving.

They stood with their fingers flaming,
Listened to me with a serious mien:

I knew the footnotes, all the text,
my words were precise and correct-

I was sure that they were learning-
till one tree spoke, speaking in dolor,
to ask why I never changed color.

Jose Rizal

One of my Favorite Hero

Mi Ultimo Adios (Spanish Translation)
Jose Rizal y Alonso

Adios, Patria adorada, region del sol querida,
Perla del Mar de Oriente, nuestra perdido Eden!
A darte voy alegre la triste mustia vida,
Y fuera mas brillante, mas fresca, mas florida,
Tambien por ti la diera, la diera por tu bien.

En campos de batalla, luchando con delirio
Otros te dan sus vida sin dudas, sin pesar;
El sitio nada importa, cipres, laurel o lirio,
Cadalso o campo abierto, combate o cruel martirio,
Lo mismo es si lo piden La Patria y el hogar.

Yo muero cuando veo que el cielo se colora
Y al fin anuncia el dia tras lobrego capuz;
Si grana necesitas para tenir tu aurora,
Vierte la sangre mia, derramala en buen hora
Y dorela un reflejo de su naciente luz

Mis suenos cuando apenas muchaco adolescente,
Mis suenos cuando joven ya lleno de vigor,
Fueron el verte un dia, joya del Mar de Oriente
Secos los negros ojos, alta la tersa frente,
Sin ceno, sin arrugas, sin mancha de rubor.

Ensueno de mi vida, mi ardiente vivo anhelo,
Salud te grita el alma que pronto va a partir!
Salud! ah, que es hermoso caer por darte vuelo,
Morir por darte vidda, morir bajo tu cielo,
Y en tu encantada tierra la eternidad dormir.

Si sobre mi sepulcro vieres brotar un dia
Entre la espesa yerba sencilla, humilde flor,
Acercala a tus labios y besa el alma mia,
Y sienta yo en mi frente bajo la tumba fria
De tu ternura el soplo, de tu halito el calor.

Deja la luna verme con luz tranquila y suave;
Deja que el alba envie su resplandor fugaz,
Deja gemir al viento con su murmullo grave,
Y si desciende y posa sobre mi cruz un ave
Deja que el ave entone su cantico de paz.

Deja que el sol ardiendo las lluvias evapore
Y al cielo tornen puras con mi clamor en pos,
Deja que un ser amigo mi fin temprano llore
Y en las serenas tardes cuando por mi alguien ore
Ora tambien, Oh Patria, por mi descanso a Dios!

Ora por todos cuantos murieron sin ventura,
Por cuantos padecieron tormentos sin igual,
Por nuestros pobres madres que gimen su amargura;
Por huerfanos y viudas, por presos en tortura
Y ora por ti que veas tu redencion final.

Y cuando en noche oscura se envuelva el cementerio
Y solos solo muertos quedan velando alli
No turbes su reposo, no turbes el misterio
Tal vez acordes oigas de citara o salterio,
Soy yo, querida Patria, yo que te canto a ti.

Y cuando ya mi tumba de todos olvidada
No tenga cruz ni piedra que marquen su lugar,
Deja que la are el hombre, la esparza con la azada,
Y mis cenizas antes que vuelvan a nada,
El polvo de tu alfombra que vayan a formar.

Entonces nada importa me pongas en olvido,
Tu atmosfera, tu espacio, tus valles cruzare,
Vibrante y limpia nota sere para tu oido,
Aroma, luz, colores, rumor, canto, gemido
Constante repitiendo la esencia de mi fe.

Mi Patria idolatrada, dolor de mis dolores,
Querida Filipinas, oye el postrer adios.
Ahi, te dejo todo, mis padres, mis amores.
Voy donde no hay esclavos, verdugos ni opresores,
Donde la fe no mata, donde el que reina es Dios.

Adios, padres y hermanos, trozos del alma mia;
Amigos de la infancia en el perdido hogar,
Dad gracias que descanso del fatigoso dia.
Adios, dulce extranjera, mi amiga, mi alegria!
Adios, queridos seres. Morir es descansar.