MY RETREAT

By spreading of the beach where the sands are soft and

fine,At the foot of the mount in its

mantle of green;I have built my hut in the pleasant grove’s confine,

From the forest seeking peace and a calmness divine,,

Rest for the weary brain and silence to my sorrow keen.

Its roof of the frail palm leaf and its floor the cane.

Its beams and posts of the unhewn wood;

Little there is of value in this hut so plain,

And better by far in the map of the lap to have lain,

By the song and the murmur of the high sea’s flood.

A purling brook from the wood land glade

Drops down o’er the stones and around it seeps,

Whence a fresh stream is drawn by the rough cane’s aid;

That in the still night its murmur has made,

And in the days heat a crystal fountain leaps.

When the sky is serene how gently it flows,

And its zither unseen ceaselessly play;

But when the rain fall a torrent it goes

Boiling and foaming through the rocky close,

Roaring uncheck’d to the sea’s wide ways.

The howl of the dog and the song of the bird,

And only the kalao’s hoarse call resound;

Nor is the voice of vain man to be heard;

My mind to harass or my mind to begird;

The woodlands alone and the sea wrap me around.

The sea, ah, the sea! For me it is all,

And it massively sweeps from the world’s apart;

Its smile in the morn to my soul is a call,

And when in he evening my faith seems to pall,

It breathes with its sadness an echo to my heart.

By the night an arcanum; when translucent it glows,

All spangled over its millions of lights,

And the bright sky above resplendent shows;

While the waves with their sights tell of their woes –

Tales that are lost as they roll to the heights.

They tell the world when the first dawn broke,

And the sunlight over their surface played;

When thousands of being from nothing less woke,

To people the depths and the heights to cloak,

Wherever its life-giving kiss was laid.

But when in the night the wild winds awake,

And the waves I in the fury begin to leap,

Through the air rush the cries that my mind shake;

Voices that pray, songs and moans that partake

Of laments from the souls sunk down in the deep.

Then from their heights the mountain groan,

And the trees shiver tremulous from great unto least;

The groves rustle plaintive and the herds utter moan,

For they say that the ghost of the folk that are gone

Are calling them down to their death’s merry feast.

In terror and confusion whispers the night,

While blue and green flames flit over the deep;

But calm reigns again in the morning’s light,

And soon the bold fishermen comes into sight,

And his bark rushes on and the waves sink to sleep.

I live in the thouhgt of the lov’d ones left,

And of their names to my mind are born;

Some have forsaken me and some by death are reft;

But now ‘tis all one, as through the past I drift,

The past which from me can never be torn.

For it is the friend that is with me always,

That in sorrow keeps the faith in my soul;

While through the still night it watches and prays,

As here in my exile in my one hut it says

To streghten my faith when doubts o’er me roll.

The faith I keep and I hope to see shine

The day when the idea prevails over might;

When after the fray and death’s slow decline.

Some other voice sounds, far happier than mine,

To raise the glsd dong of the triumph of right.

I see the sky glow, refulgent and clear,

As when it forced on me my first dear illusion;

I feel the same kind kiss my forehead sere,

And the fire is the same that is burning here

To stir up youth’s blood in boiling confussion.

I breath here the winds that perchance have pass’d

O’er the fields and the rivers of my own natal shore;

And mayhap they will bring on the returning blast

The sughs that loved being upon them has cast –

Messages sweet from the love I first bore.

To see the same moon, all silver’d as of yore.

I feed the sad thoughts within me arise;

The fond recollections of the torth we swore,

Of the field and the bower and the wide seashore,

The blushes of joy with the silence and sighs.

A butterfly seeking the flowers and the light,

of other lands dreaming of vester extent;

scrace a youth, from home and love i took flight,

To wander unheeding, free from doubt to affright --

So in foreign lands were my brightest days spent.

And when like a languishing bird i was fain

To the home of my fathers and my love to return,Of a sudden the feirst tempest roar'd amain;

So i saw my wingssahttered and no home emain,

my trust to others and wrecks round me burn.

hurled out into exile from the land i adore

My future all dark and no refuge to seek;

My roseate dreams hover round me once more,

Sole treasures of all that life to me bore;

The faith of youth that with serenity speaks .

But not as old, full of life and grace,

Do you hold out hopesof undying reward;

Sadder I find you; on your lov’d face,

Though still sincere, the pale lines trace

the marks of faith it is yours to guard.

You offer now, dreams, my gloom to appease,

And the years of my youth again to disclose;

So I thak you, o storm, and heaven-born breeze,

That you knew of the hour my wild flight to ease,

to cast me back down to the soil whence I rose.

By spreading of the beach where the sands are soft and

fine,At the foot of the mount in its

mantle of green;I have built my hut in the pleasant grove’s confine,

In the shady woods peace and calmness divine,

Rest for the weary brain and silence to my sorrow keen.

TAGALOG VERSION

ANG KINALIGPITAN

KO

Sa may kalawakan ng pampang ng tanak, lambuting buhangin,

Sa may paa ng bundok na balot ng kulay lunti sa tingin,

Ang hamak kong kubo’y doon itinayo, sa maayang lilim

Niyong kakahuyan upnag sa gubat ngang payapa’y hanapinAng pamahinga niyang

isipan,tighaw sa panimdim.

ang atip ng bubong ay hamak na pawid, sahig ay kawayan,

Magaspang na kahoy ang mga haligi, pingga at tahilan,

Sa kubo kong ito’ywalang bahaging may kahalagahan,

Lalong mabuti pa ang doon humilig sa lunting damuhan

Na abot ng bulong at awit ng dagat sa dalampasigan.

Doon ay may batis na umaawit pa habang nag lalagos

Sa may batuhan magmula sa gubat sa may dakong likod,

Batis ay nag sanga sa tulong ng magaspang na tungkod,

kung gabing tahimik ay may bulong siyang nakakapag antok,

At kung araw naman ang langit ay parang ibig maabot.

Kung ang kalangita’y payapng-payapa, agos ay banayad,

Panay ang taginting ng kanyang sitarang hindi mamalas,

Pag bagsak ng ulan, ang tulin ng agos ay walang katulad,

Humahagunot pa sa naka hambalang na batong malapad,

sa di mapigil na kanyang pagtakbong patungo sa dagat.

Palahaw ng aso at awit ng ibon, at sigaw ng kalaw,

Ang ingay na tanging siyang bumabasag sa katahimikan;

Doo’y di kilala ang tinig ng taong palalo’t mayabang

Na susunod sa nasang guluhin ang aking isipan;

Ako’y naliligid ng katabing dagat at ng gubat lamang.

Ang dagat, ah, ito ay siya ng lahat para sa akin,

Kung dumadaluhong mag mula sa mga alayong pampangin;

Sa akin, ang kanyang ngiti kung umaga’y anyayang magiliw,At kung dapit hapong ang

pananalig ko’y parang nagmamaliw,

Siya ay may bulong na inihahatid sa akin ng hangin.

Isinalaysay ang ayos ng mundo nang unang sumikat

Ang araw sa langit, at sila’y laruin ng kanyang liwanag;

Nang mmula sa wala’y dami ng kinapal ang biglang kumalat,

sa kailaliman, at sa kapatagan, magpahanggang gubat,

Sa lahat ng dako na abot ng halik ng myamang sinag.

Ngunit kung sa gabi’y magising ang hanging malikot, mailap,

At ang alon , sa galit na dala’y susugod, lulundag,

Mayroong mga sigaw na sa aking puso’y nagbibigay-sinadak,

Mga tinig waring nagsisipagdasal o nagsisiiyak,

Nag sisipanaghoy sa kailalimang kadilima’y ganap.

At sa ugong ang marahan taghoy na mula sa bundok,

Mga punong kahoy at mga damo’y nagsisipangatog,

Pati mga pastol at nababalisa’t pawang mga takot,

Sapagkat anila, ang mga kaluluwa’y noon sumisipot,

at nag aanyayang sa kanilang handa ay dumulog,

Gabi’y bumubulong sa gitna ng sindak at pagkaligalig,

At sa dagat nama’y bughaw’t lunting apoy ang pasilip-silip;Pagngiti ng araw’y payapa nanaman ang buong paligid,

sugod na ang lunda’y at mga alon ay nananahimik.

Ganyan ang buhay ko sa aking payapa’t ligpit na tahanan;

Sa mundong nang dati ay kilala ako, ako’y pinapanaw,

Nasapit kong palad, sa ngayon ay aking binubulay-bulay;

Bahaging limot na ay sa lumot namang papawiin lamang

upang maikubli ang mundong akin na, sa sangkatauhan.

Dahil sa naiwnag mga minamahal, ako’y nanangamba,

Mga ngalan nila’y di ko malilimot sa laot ng sigwa;

May nangagsilayo, at mayroon namang nangagsipanaw na;

Ngunit sa lumipas kung ako’y magbalik, lahat ay iisa,

Iyang lumipas kong hindi mapapaknit kahit agawin pa.

Yaong pananalig na ibig ko sanang makitang kumislap

Sa dakilang ar ng pangingibabaw ng isip sa lakas;

Kung makalipas na itong kamataya’t labanang marahas,At may iabang tinig,na lalong

masigla at puspos ng galak,Na siyang aawit ng pananagumpay

ng matuwid sa, sa lahat.

Dapwa’tkung ikaw ma’y umaasa ngayong iyong makakamtanYaong gantimpalang hindi

magmamaliw magpakailan man,hindi k a na paris ng dating magilas

at buhay na buhay;Sa hapis mong mukha’y may baka

na hindi mapagkakamalan:Yaong pananalig na dapat mahalin

at ipagsanggalang.

At upang aliwin, handog mo sa aki’y mga panaginip,

nagdaang panahon ng kabataan ko’y ipinasisilip;

Kaya nga , salamat, O sigwang biyaya sa akin ng langit,

Alam mo ang oras na takdang pag pipgil sa gala kong isip,

Upang ibalik mo sa pinanggalingang lupang iniibi.

Sa may kalawakan ng pampang ng tanak, lambuting buhangin,

Sa paa ng bundok na balot ng kulay lunti sa tingin,

Ang matatagpuan ko sa lupang sarili’y ampunan sa lilim

Niyong kakahuyan, atsa mga gubat-- katahimikan din ,

Ang pamamahinga niyaring, tighaw sa panimdimm