My Last FarewellMI Ultimo Adios

Jose P. Rizal

Poem analysis

1st Stanza

Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caressed,

Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best,

And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest, still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.Philippines, the country that I and others are fighting

for, was taken from us. I am glad to give my life to all Filipinos for freedom even if my life deserves a brighter and more blessed future.

2nd Stanza

On the field of battle, 'mid the frenzy of fight,Others have given their lives, without doubt or

heed;The place matters not-cypress or laurel or lily

white,Scaffold of open plain, combat or martyrdom's

plight,‘Tis ever the same, to serve our home and

country's need.

In a battle, it does not matter who you are and where you are. All that matters is that you, without any second thought, are willing to die, to fight and sacrifice anything for our country and for it's betterment.

3rd Stanza

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, Poured out at need for thy dear sake, to dye with its crimson the waking ray.

The freedom that I adore will be achieved just after I die. If that liberation wants the stain of my blood, then I am very willing to die for our country just to attain the liberty I was hoping for.

4th Stanza

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.My love for the country started when I was still young. I

dreamed of seeing this country in renowned liberation, free from sadness and misery.

5th Stanza

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 mays aspire;

and sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night.

My dream of liberation is my desire to dedicate my life to our beloved country. “All Hail!” is a positive greeting of my near death and I am willing to give my life even if it would be ended, I won’t feel sorry.

If over my grave someday thou sees grow, in the grassy sod, a 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.

When the country develops and there’s growth of independence someday, I will then be forgotten. I just want a loving and tender kiss and a warm breath in my tomb so I could feel I’m not disremembered.

6th Stanza

7th Stanza

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 trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.

I want to see the moon, dawn, wind, and a bird over my grave. A night without its sadness, wind that will cry over my grave and the bird that sings of peace that comes with liberation as I rests below.

8th Stanza

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 highFrom thee, O my country, that in God I may rest.

The land is purified by taking away the sorrows and tears that has shed with my last cry. You must think of why I died and I want to hear a prayer in the silent evening that will make me rest in peace in God’s hands.

9th Stanza

Pray for all those that hapless have died,For all who have suffered the unmeasured pain;

For our mothers that bitterly their woes have cried,

For widows and orphans, for captives by torture tried;

And then for thyself that redemption thou mays gain.Ask for God’s mercy to the people who are miserable

and in deep pain. Also pray for me for we all are deserving to gain redemption.

10th Stanza

And when the dark night wraps the graveyard around,

with only the dead in their vigil to see; Break not my repose or the mystery profound,

and perchance thou mays hear a sad hymn resound;

'Tis I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.When I die, my tomb will be on burial ground with other dead people, yet my love for our country still lives on. If by chance you’ll remember me, you must let me rest in peace and if you’ll hear a song stemming from the grave, it was I who sings for our Fatherland.

11th Stanza

When even my grave is remembered no more,Unmarked by never a cross nor a stone;

Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it o'er,

That my ashes may carpet thy earthly floor,Before into nothingness at last they are blown.

I want to be useful even if I am already dead. Let my grave still be useful for growing crops. Let the plow pass over me and cultivates what I can offer before my fertile soil be gone.

12th Stanza

Then will oblivion bring to me no care,As over thy vales and plains I sweep;

Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and air,With color and light, with song and lament I fare,

Ever repeating the faith that I keep.

Being forgotten does not matter to me for I would travel distant and wide place over my beloved fatherland. I will always keep my faith as I sing the hymn of our nation.

13th Stanza

My Fatherland adored, that sadness to my sorrow lends,

Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-by!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 ever on high!

I bade goodbye to my adored Fatherland, to my parents, friends, and the small children. My death will be satisfied for I will be going to a place where there is peace , no slaves and a place where God rules over, not the tyrants.

14th Stanza

Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away, Friends of my childhood in the home

dispossessed!Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day!Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened

my way; Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is

rest!Farewell to all my fellow countrymen and my childhood

friends who help me. “In Death there is rest!” means that I, being set to be sentenced to death, accepts with all bravery after fighting for the freedom and is glad to die in peace.

My Last Farewell

To the Filipino YouthUnfold, oh timid flower!

Lift up your radiant brow,This day, Youth of my native strand!

Your abounding talents showResplendently and grand,

Fair hope of my Motherland!

The first line, "unfold, oh timid flower," implies that the youth is silent, maybe daunted, and consequently has not yet gone into full

bloom for whatever reason there is that may have silenced them. In the beginning stanza, Rizal encourages the youth, by telling them to hold their heads high for they possess talents and skills and abilities

that would make their country proud.

Soar high, oh genius great,And with noble thoughts fill their mind;

The honor's glorious seat,May their virgin mind fly and find

More rapidly than the wind.

The second verse can be rearranged in contemporary English to say: "Oh genius great, soar high; and fill their mind with

noble thoughts. May their virgin mind fly and find the honor's glorious seat more rapidly than the wind." Here, Rizal calls to genius to fill young minds with noble thoughts and hopes that as they release their thinking from the chains that bind, they

may be able to soar swiftly high where the joy of honor is.

Descend with the pleasing lightOf the arts and sciences to the plain,

Oh Youth, and break forthrightThe links of the heavy chain

That your poetic genius enchain.

Contrary to the second verse, which talked about ascending and soaring to the heights, this third stanza now talks about descent, and a downward motion of the great genius to fill the earthly strokes of art and science with their magnificent ideas. Again, Rizal calls them

to break the chains that bind their intellect. "Poetic genius" here does not necessarily pertain to the talent of writing poetry. Instead, the term "poetic" is simply an adjective to describe genius, meaning

that it is deep and mystifying and heavy with meaning.

See that in the ardent zone,The Spaniard, where shadows stand,

Doth offer a shining crown,With wise and merciful handTo the son of this Indian land.

Rizal challenges the youth, that in their pursuit of knowledge and wisdom they may humble the hand of Spain, whose proud chin

did not look kindly upon the people whom they labelled as "Indios" and whom they treated with contempt. He dreams that in their journey to intellectual greatness they may humble even

the proudest nations that look down on them and rightfully deserve "a crown that shines, even where shadows stand."

You, who heavenward riseOn wings of your rich fantasy,

Seek in the Olympian skiesThe tenderest poesy,

More sweet than divine honey;

You of heavenly harmony,On a calm unperturbed night,Philomel's match in melody,

That in varied symphonyDissipate man's sorrow's blight;

In these two stanzas, Rizal calls the youth to seek the beauty of poetry and music, which he himself values greatly as essentials in every manner

of life. He claims that poetry is "more sweet than divine honey," and that music can "dissipate man's sorrow's blight."

You at th' impulse of your mindThe hard rock animate

And your mind with great pow'r consignedTransformed into immortal stateThe pure mem'ry of genius great;

Speaking to the youth, Rizal says that by the very impulse of their mind, they are capable of bringing to life or animating even

something as lifeless and unmoving as a hard rock. He continues to say that the youth is able, to immortalize their thoughts and their words through the help of great genius (as he has done himself.

This stanza can be arranged in a more contemporary English structure as follows: "You can animate the hard rock at the impulse

of your mind; and transform, with the great power of your mind, the pure memory of great genius into immortality."

And you, who with magic brushOn canvas plain capture

The varied charm of Phoebus,Loved by the divine Apelles,And the mantle of Nature;

Rizal here addresses the youth, comparing their abilities to a magic brush that can capture even the most majestic views and

the most glorious charms on a blank canvas.

Run ! For genius' sacred flameAwaits the artist's crowning

Spreading far and wide the fameThroughout the sphere proclaiming

With trumpet the mortal's nameOh, joyful, joyful day,

The Almighty blessed beWho, with loving eagerness

Sends you luck and happiness.

The last stanza is a charge, urging the youth to run, for a glorious crown awaits them. The "sphere" here pertains to the world, showing

that Rizal believed the Filipino youth is as brilliant as those in any other nation, and is able to contend with even the strongest powers if

they only set their mind to making most of what they already have.