"Mi último adiós" (Spanish for "My Last Farewell") is a poem written by Philippine national hero José Rizal on the eve of his execution on December 30, 1896. Although the poem was untitled, this title served as an artifice useful as a quick reference. This poem was one of the last notes he wrote before his execution. Another that he had written before his death was found in his shoe but because the text could not be read it remains a mystery.
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Rizal did not inscribe a title to his poem. Mariano Ponce, his friend and fellow reformist, titled it Mi Último Pensamiento in the copies he distributed, but this did not catch on. Here is a copy of news story taken from The Inquirer dated December 30, 2002:
On the afternoon of Dec. 29, 1896, a day before his execution, Dr. Jose Rizal was visited by his mother, Teodora Alonzo, sisters Lucia, Josefa, Trinidad, Maria and Narcisa, and two nephews. When they took their leave, Rizal told Trinidad in English that there was something in the small alcohol stove (cocinilla), not alcohol lamp (lamparilla). The stove was given to Narcisa by the guard when the party was about to board their carriage in the courtyard. At home, the Rizal ladies recovered from the stove a folded paper. On it was written an unsigned, untitled and undated poem of 14 five-line stanzas. The Rizals reproduced copies of the poem and sent them to Rizal's friends in the country and abroad. In 1897, Mariano Ponce in Hong Kong had the poem printed with the title "Mi Ultimo Pensamiento." Fr. Mariano Dacanay, who received a copy of the poem while a prisoner in Bilibid(jail), published it in the first issue of La Independencia on Sept. 25, 1898 with the title "Ultimo Adios." N.B. The stove was not delivered until after the execution. Rizal needed it to light the room and to be able to write the poem and his other parting words. VGPas 10/21/08.
Thus did Rizal's untitled, undated and unsigned last poem became popularly known as "Último adiós," or "Mi último adiós."
After the transfer of possession to the United States as a result of the Spanish-American War, the Philippines was perceived as a community of "barbarians" incapable of self-government. Lobbying for management of Philippine affairs, U.S. Representative Henry A. Cooper recited the poem before the U.S. House of Representatives. Realising the nobility of the piece's author, his fellow congressmen enacted the Philippine Bill of 1902 (renamed Jones Law) enabling self-government. With that speech, the US Congress passed the bill into law which is now known as the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, despite the fact that the United States at that time still had the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act in effect and African Americans has yet to be granted equal rights as US Citizens.[1] It created the Philippine legislature, appointed two Filipino delegates to the US Congress, extended the US Bill of Rights to Filipinos, and laid the foundation for an autonomous government. The colony was on its way to independence. although relative complete autonomy would not be granted to the nation until 1946 at the Treaty of Manila which reclaimed the legacies of the June 12,1898 Philippine Republic.
This same poem which has inspired liberty-loving peoples across the region and beyond was recited (in its Bahasa Indonesia translation of Rosihan Anwar) by Indonesian soldiers of independence before going into battle.[2]
Rosihan Anwar recalled the circumstances of the translation: “The situation was favorable to promote nationalism. [On Sept. 7, 1944, Prime Minister Koiso of Japan declared that the ‘East Indies’ would become independent soon, an announcement that was received enthusiastically throughout the islands, and got ecstatic treatment in Asia Raya the following day.] In that context, I thought it would be good that I could disseminate this story about Jose Rizal among our younger people at that time. It was quite natural; I thought it would be good to tell the story of Jose Rizal, this rebel against the Spanish. And of course the climax, when he was already sentenced to death and then hauled off to face firing squad, and he wrote that [poem] ….”
“I translated it from the English. Because I do not know Spanish. I know French, I know German, but not Spanish. Then, according to the custom at that time, everything you want to say over the radio station or anything you wanted to publish in a newspaper … everything must go first to the censorship. I sent it to [the] censor, no objection, it’s okay. Okay. Then I made an arrangement, with my friend, [an] Indonesian friend, who worked at the radio station, where everything was supposed to be supervised by the Japanese. He gave me a chance to read it, which I did …”[3]
He read Rizal’s farewell poem over Jakarta radio on Saturday, Dec. 30, Rizal’s 48th death anniversary. The same day, Asia Raya devoted almost half of its back page to a feature and poem on Rizal written by Anwar, and to Anwar’s translation of the poem.
| Spanish (Original) | English | Filipino (Jose Gatmaitan) |
|---|---|---|
|
"Mi Último Adiós" |
"My Last Farewell" |
"Huling Paalam" |
Mi último adiós could be the most translated patriotic swan song in the world, and interpretations into 46 Filipino languages including Filipino Sign Language[1], and as of 2005 at least 35 English translations known and published (in print). The most popular English iteration is the 1911 translation of Charles Derbyshire and is inscribed on bronze. Also on bronze at the Rizal Park in Manila, but less known, is the 1944 one of novelist Nick Joaquin. The latest translation is in Czech made by a Czech diplomat and addressed at the session of their Senate.
This poem has been translated into at least 38 other languages: