The Ingenium School Translation, 2024 of
MI ULTIMO ADIOS of Dr. Jose Rizal
with the rhyme and English meter equivalent of the original Spanish.
This translation was done for use in the English subject (Poetry) of the Grade 10 Students of Ingenium School. Outside users are welcome, even encouraged, to avail of this material. The only condition is that its origins be acknowledged as “The Ingenium School Translation of Mi Ultimo Adios, 2024.
Still to follow are the following materials to help in the understanding and teaching of this national treasure: 1) technical commentaries on the translation; 2) the historical, philosophical, and religious background of the poem; 3) Student Guide Questions and 4) Teacher Answer Sheets to the Guide Question.
MI ULTIMO ADIOS
MY LAST FAREWELL
Translated by Fr. Edmundo M. Martinez
Ingenium School, 2024
_
dedicated to my Grade 10 English Students of Ingenium School.
May the passion of Rizal for the welfare of the Philippines engender in you the Ingenium Core Value of “Civitas,” namely, responsibility for the country to work “For A Better Philippines.”
My Last Farewell
English Translation
1
Farewell, my sacred land, beloved soil of the sun
Pearl of the Orient sea, our paradise profaned;
With joy, I give to you my life, wilted and undone
by grief; were it brighter, fresher, abloom as it began
To you I give it still, to you consign unfeigned. 5
2
In the field of battle, by mindless rage consumed completely,
Others undoubting stake their lives unafraid to fall;
The place does not matter: whether cypress, laurel, or lily,
Gallows or meadows, fighting boldly or martyred wrongly;
They are one and the same when home and country call. 10
3
I die as I see the sky bedeck itself in color
At last to greet the dawn behind the sightless hood;
And if you need the deepest red your dawn to smother
Disgorge my blood, splurge it on this most fitting hour
That by the bloodred sheen of your sun it may be hued. 15
4
My dreams when I was still young and barely adolescent,
My dreams as a grown man with vim and vigor aflame
Were to see you one day, gem of the sea of the Orient,
With sodden eyes wiped dry, brow unfurrowed and content,
Held high with no more grief or pain or any stain of shame. 20
5
The burning passion of my life, the longing for which I sigh:
May you be blest and prosper! My soul cries out as it uncoils:
Good fortune! Ah! How glorious to fall that you may fly,
To die that you may live, to expire beneath your sky
And there to sleep forever in your enchanted soil. 25
6
If, on my tomb, amidst the thick and common grass,
You one day see a simple flower bloom and thrive,
Upraise it to your lips to kiss my soul at last
That my brow, devoid of sense in the cold by the grave held fast,
May feel the softness of your breath, the warmth of being alive. 30
7
Let the moon caress me with its soft and gentle beam;
Let the dawn diffuse its splendor that soon enough will cease;
Let the wailing wind wander with its mournful muted scream.
If a bird descends upon my cross and alights abeam,
Let it intone in song its canticle of peace. 35
8
Allow the heat of the sun to evaporate the rain,
Returning pure above, pursued by my crying sob;
Allow a friend bemoan my early last remain.
And if in the twilight hush, there prays a sad refrain,
Pray also, Oh native land, for my quietude in God. 40
9
Pray for the many who in pointless death expired,
For all the legions abused beyond imagination,
For poor mothers in deep and bitter sorrow mired,
For orphans, widows, convicts by cruel torture scarred;
And pray for yourself that you finally find redemption. 45
10
When the cemetery shrouds itself with the blackness of the night
And only the lonesome dead keep vigil there,
Do not disturb their rest, their enigmatic plight;
Perchance you’ll hear the zither’s chords or the psalter at the site
T’is I, dear land, I that sing to you in prayer. 50
11
And when, for all, my tomb becomes a buried witness
Do not mark it with cross or stone so none forget!
Plow it, with the hoe disperse it to obliviousness;
And my ashes, before they go back again to nothingness,
Will form the powder, the faithful dust, upon your carpet 55
12
And so, it matters not if I’m consigned to oblivion;
Your air, your space, your mountains valleys and plains–the whole swathe
I will traverse. Vibrantly clear you’ll hear my invocation;
Lights and colors and scent, moans and incantations–
All will be repeating always the essence of my faith. 60
13
My dear beloved Philippines, sorrow of all my sorrows
Do hear my last farewell, my hallowed idolized sod,
Today I leave you all, my parents and everyone close;
I go where there are no slaves or killers, despots that impose
Their curse; where faith does not kill, where He who reigns is God. 65
14
Farewell, my parents, my siblings, precious pieces of my soul
Farewell my childhood friends in this hapless home of woes
Give thanks that I leave the tiresome day that takes its toll!
Farewell fair sweet foreigner, my friend, the joy of my soul
Farewell beloved all that be; to die is to find repose. 70
-end-
Mi Ultimo Adios
Original Spanish
1
Adios, Patria adorada, region del sol querida,
Perla del Mar de Oriente, nuestro perdido Eden!
A darte voy alegre la triste mustia vida,
Y fuera más brillante más fresca, más florida,
Tambien por tí la diera, la diera por tu bien. 5
2
En campos de batalla, luchando con delirio
Otros te dan sus vidas sin dudas, sin pesar;
El sitio nada importa, ciprés, laurel ó lirio,
Cadalso ó campo abierto, combate ó cruel martirio,
Lo mismo es si lo piden la patria y el hogar. 10
3
Yo muero cuando veo que el cielo se colora
Y al fin anuncia el día trás lóbrego capuz;
Si grana necesitas para teñir tu aurora,
Vierte la sangre mía, derrámala en buen hora
Y dórela un reflejo de su naciente luz. 15
4
Mis sueños cuando apenas muchacho adolescente,
Mis sueños cuando joven ya lleno de vigor,
Fueron el verte un día, joya del mar de oriente
Secos los negros ojos, alta la tersa frente,
Sin ceño, sin arrugas, sin manchas de rubor. 20
5
Ensueño de mi vida, mi ardiente vivo anhelo,
Salud te grita el alma que pronto va á partir!
Salud! ah que es hermoso caer por darte vuelo,
Morir por darte vida, morir bajo tu cielo,
Y en tu encantada tierra la eternidad dormir. 25
6
Si sobre mi sepulcro vieres brotar un dia
Entre la espesa yerba sencilla, humilde flor,
Acércala a tus labios y besa al alma mía,
Y sienta yo en mi frente bajo la tumba fría
De tu ternura el soplo, de tu hálito el calor. 30
7
Deja á la luna verme con luz trafnquila y suave;
Deja que el alba envíe su resplandor ugaz,
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. 35
8
Deja que el sol ardiendo las lluvias evapore
Y al cielo tornen puras con mi clamor en pos,
Deja que un sér amigo mi fin temprano llore
Y en las serenas tardes cuando por mi alguien ore
Ora tambien, Oh Patria, por mi descanso á Dios! 40
9
Ora por todos cuantos murieron sin ventura,
Por cuantos padecieron tormentos sin igual,
Por nuestras pobres madres que gimen su amargura;
Por huérfanos y viudas, por presos en tortura
Y ora por tí que veas tu redencion final. 45
10
Y cuando en noche oscura se envuelva el cementerio
Y solos sólo muertos queden velando allí,
No turbes su reposo, no turbes el misterio
Tal vez acordes oigas de citara ó salterio,
Soy yo, querida Patria, yo que te canto á ti. 50
11
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 á la nada,
El polvo de tu alfombra que vayan á formar. 55
12
Entonces nada importa me pongas en olvido,
Tu atmósfera, tu espacio, tus valles cruzaré,
Vibrante y limpia nota seré para tu oido,
Aroma, luz, colores, rumor, canto, gemido
Constante repitiendo la esencia de mi fé. 60
13
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 fé no mata, donde el que reyna es Dios. 65
14
Adios, padres y hermanos, trozos del alma mía,
Amigos de la infancia en el perdido hogar,
Dad gracias que descanso del fatigoso día;
Adios, dulce extrangera, mi amiga, mi alegria,
Adios, queridos séres morir es descansar. 70