Mi Ultimo Adios (Free verse translation into English)

Friend and PEN President Lito Zulueta, requested me to recite Rizal's poetic last will and testament to a group of Korean writers in the original language. My rusty Spanish wouldn't permit me. Instead, I translated the poem into English. Here it is.

===========================================

¡Adiós, Patria adorada, región del sol querida, 


Perla del mar de oriente, nuestro perdido Edén!

To you I bequeath this sad and troubled life; 


If it were brighter, younger, more extravagant, 


Even then, I’d offer it for you.



In fields of battle, in fierce combat, 


Others give their lives, without doubt, without regret;

Whether fallen crowned in cypress, laurel or lily,

Or shot in an open field, in war or cruel execution,

If all of this is for your sake, I will not hesitate.





I die as the sky unfurles its colors

And a cape of darkness embraces the day;

If you need to jolt the color of dawn, 


You have my blood, shed it in good time

Let it be burnished by the sun’s light.



My dreams, my ideals in my youth,

My dreams, even now as a man

Were to see you, one day, a jewel of the Orient sea.

Dry those sunken eyes, raise your forehead high, 


Leave no mark of sadness, no burden of age

or stain of shame.



My life’s dream, this deep burning desire, 


This soul that will soon depart cries out: Salud! 


To Life! Oh how nasty to fall so you may fly.

To die so you may breath,

To die under this sky

To enter the mysterious country and find eternal sleep.

One day if you see upon my grave

An insignificant flower among the wild grass

Pluck it so you may know my soul

And in the cold tomb below, I shall feel your kiss.

The moon will gaze with tranquil light

The dawn will warm with a fleeting radiance.


Let the wind moan in a low murmur,

And should a bird rest on my cross,


Let it sing in peace.





Let the sun usher the rains

To calm whatever trouble I’ve left behind

Let a friend mourn this early departure

And in praying for me

My countrymen, pray, also, that I find rest.

Pray for the unfortunate dead


For those with unbearable suffering

For bitter mothers left in grief,

For orphans and widows, and tortured prisoners.

And pray that redemption finds you.

In the cemetery’s dark night,


There, where only the dead remain

Disturb not their rest,

nor the mystery of their death,


And if you hear a melody

It will be I singing to you.

When my grave has been forgotten

The cross lost, not even a stone to mark it.

Let the farmers come to plow the earth

Before my bones come to nothing.

Let my ashes blanket the earth.

Then…

nothing will matter, I will be nothing

But air that runs freely in valleys.

To your ears, I will be a faint whistle in the wind

I will be the smell, the light, the color,

the hum, the

pleasure,

and the song

That repeats only one thing:

my conviction,

my faith.

My muse, my country, sorrow of my sorrows,


Querida Filipinas, oye el postrer adios.

I leave you all,

I leave you all,

my parents, my loves.


I go where there are no slaves,

butchers nor dictators,


Where faith is not a cause for death.

Where the one who reigns is God.



Adios, padres y hermanos, chards of my soul,


Childhood friends and my home, all lost

Be thankful there is peace after this wearisome day;


Adios dulce estrangera, mi amiga, mi alegra.

My loved ones, adios,

to die is to rest.