Jose Rizal: My Last Farewell
(English Translation, My Last Farewell (translation adapted from one by Edwin Lozada) "Farewell, beloved Country, treasured region of the sun, Pearl of the sea of the Orient, our vanquished Eden! To you I gladly surrender this melancholy life; And were it brighter, fresher, gaudier, Even then I’d give it to you, to you alone would then I give. In fields of battle, deliriously fighting, Others give you their lives, without doubt, without regret; Where there’s cypress, laurel or lily, On a plank or open field, in combat or cruel martyrdom, If the home or country asks, it's all the same--it matters not. I die when I see the sky unfurls its colors And at last after a cloak of darkness announces the day; If you need scarlet to tint your dawn, Paint with my blood, pour it as the moment comes, And may it be gilded by a reflection of the heaven’s new-born light. My dreams, even as a child, My dreams, when a young man in the prime of life, Were to see you one day...