Me Piden Versos

Second Stanza:

They Ask Me for Verses!

I

They bid me strike the lyre

so long now mute and broken,

but not a note can I waken

nor will my muse inspire!

She stammers coldly and babbles

when tortured by my mind;

she lies when she laughs and thrills

as she lies in her lamentation,

for in my sad isolation

my soul nor frolics nor feels.

II

There was a time, 'tis true,

but now that time has vanished

when indulgent love or friendship

called me a poet too.

Now of that time there lingers

hardly a memory,

as from a celebration

some mysterious refrain

that haunts the ears will remain

of the orchestra's actuation.

III

A scarce-grown plant I seem,

uprooted from the Orient,

where perfume is the atmosphere

and where life is a dream.

O land that is never forgotten!

And these have taught me to sing:

the birds with their melody,

the cataracts with their force

and, on the swollen shores,

the murmuring of the sea.

IV

While in my childhood days

I could smile upon her sunshine,

I felt in my bosom, seething,

a fierce volcano ablaze.

A poet was I, for I wanted

with my verses, with my breath,

to say to the swift wind: "Fly

and propagate her renown!

Praise her from zone to zone,

from the earth up to the sky!"

V.

I left her! My native hearth,

a tree despoiled and shriveled,

no longer repeats the echo

of my old songs of mirth.

I sailed across the vast ocean,

craving to change my fate,

not noting, in my madness,

that, instead of the weal I sought,

the sea around me wrought

the spectre of death and sadness.

The dreams of younger hours,

love, enthusiasm, desire,

have been left there under the

skies

of that fair land of flowers.

Oh, do not ask of my heart

that languishes, songs of love!

For, as without peace I tread

this desert of no surprises,

I feel that my soul agonizes

and that my spirit is dead.

CIRCULO HISPANO FILIPINO

- Rizal is member of this association when he wrote

the Me Piden Versos.

What does Me Piden Versos

really mean when Rizal wrote

it?

First Stanza;

Third Stanza:

Me Piden Versos

Piden que pulse la lira

Ha tiempo callada y rota:

Si ya no arranco una nota

Ni mi musa ya me inspira!

Balbuce fria y delira

Si la tortura mi mente;

Cuando rie solo miente;

Como miente su lamento:

Y es que en mi triste aislamiento

Mi alma ni goza ni siente.

Hubo un tiempo ... y es verdad!

Pero ya aquel tiempo huyo,

En que vate me llamo

La indulgencia a la amistad.

Ahora de aquella edad

El recuerdo apensas resta

Como quendan de una fiesta

Los misteriosos sonidos

Que retienen los oidos

Del bullicio de la orquesta.

Soy planta apenas crecida

Arrancada del Oriente,

Donde es perfume el ambiente,

Donde es un sueno la vida:

Patria que jamas se olvida!

Ensenaronme a cantar

Las aves, con su trinar;

Con su rumor, las cascadas;

Y en sus playas dilatadas,

Los murmurios de la mar.

Mientras en la infancia mia

Pude a su sol sonreir,

Dentro de mi pecho hervir

Volcan de fuego sentia;

Vate fui, porque queria

Con mis versos, con mi aliento,

Decir al rapido viento:

Vuela; su fama pregona!

Cantala de zona en zona;

De la tierra al firmamento!

La deje! ... mis patrios lares.

Arbol despojados y seco!

Ya no repiten el eco

De mis pasados cantares

Yo cruce los vastos mares

Ansiando cambiar de suerte,

Y mi locura no advierte

Que en vez del bien que buscaba,

El mar conmigo surcaba

El espectro de la muerte.

Toda mis hermosa ilusion,

Amor, entusiasmo, anhelo,

Alla quedan bajo el cielo

De tan florida region:

No pidais al corazon

Cantos de amor, que esta

yerto;

Porque en medio del desierto

Donde discurro sin calma,

Siento que agoniza el alma

Y mi numen esta muerto.

Pinatutula Ako

Iyong hinihiling, lira ay tugtugin

bagaman sira na't laon nang naumid

ayaw nang tumipa ang nagtampong

bagting

pati aking Musa ay nagtago narin.

Malungkot na nota ang nasnaw

na himig

waring hinuhugot dusa at

hinagpis

at ang alingawngaw ay

umaaliwiw

sa sarili na ring puso at

damdamin.

kaya nga't sa gitna niring aking

hapis

yaring kalul'wa ko'y parang

namamanhid.

Nagkapanahon nga ... kaipala'y, tunay

ang mga araw na matuling nagdaan

nang ako sa akong Musa'y napamahal

lagi na sa akin, ngiti'y nakalaan

Ngunit marami nang lumipas na araw

sa aking damdamin alaala'y naiwan

katulad ng saya at kaligayahan

kapag dumaan na'y may hiwagang taglay

na mga awiting animo'y lumulutang

sa aking gunitang malabo, malamlam.

Katulad ko'y binhing binunot na tanim

sa nilagakan kong Silangang lupain

pawang lahat-lahat ay kagiliw-giliw

manirahan doo'y sayang walang maliw.

ang bayan kong ito, na lubhang marikit

sa diwa't puso ko'y hindi mawawaglit

ibong malalaya, nangagsisiawit

mulang kabundukan, lagaslas ng tubig

ang halik ng dagat sa buhangin mandin

lahat ng ito'y, hindi magmamaliw.a

Nang ako'y musmos pa'y aking natutuhang

masayang batiin ang sikat ng araw

habang sa diwa ko'y waring naglalatang

silakbo ng isang kumukulong bulkan.

laon nang makata, kaya't ako nama'y

laging nagnanais na aking tawagan

sa diwa at tula, hanging nagduruyan:

"Ikalat mo lamang ang kanyang pangalan,

angking kabantugan ay ipaghiyawan

mataas, mababa'y, hayaang magpisan".

Me Piden Versos was dedicated

to: