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AndrewD
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Interesting history ...

Thanks Stefan,

I had no knowledge about this interesting man and his life and have just spent time reading about what he achieved in his short 35 years on this earth.

This is the famous poem he wrote on the eve of his execution by firing squad:

My Last Farewell

by Jose Rizal

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.

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 or open plain, combat or martyrdom's plight,
Tis ever the same, to serve our home and country's need.

I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if colour is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Poured out at need for thy dear sake
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.

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.

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 mayst aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night.

If over my grave some day thou see’est 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.

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.
Let the sun draw the vapours 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 high
From thee, o my country, that in God I may rest.

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 mayst gain.

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 colour and light, with song and lament I fare, below.
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm power.

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 mayst hear a sad hymn resound
'Tis I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.

And even my grave is remembered no more
Unmarked by never a cross nor a stone
Let the plough sweep through it, the spade turn it o'er
That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Before into nothingness at last they are blown.

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 colour and light, with song and lament I fare,

ever repeating the faith that I keep.

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 e'er on high!

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!

Translated by Charles Derbyshire

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