TO MY MUSE

Invoked no longer is the muse
The lyre is out of date:
The poets it no longer use,
And youth its inspiration now imbues with other form and state

If today our fancies aught
Of verse would still require,
Helicon's hill remains unsought;
And without heed we but inquire.
Why the coffee is not brought.

In the place of thought sincere
That our hearts may feel,
We must seize a pen of steel,
And with verse and line severe
Fling abroad a jest and jeer.

Muse, that in the past inspired me,
And with songs of love hast fired me;
Go thou now to full repose,
For today in sordid prose
I must earn the gold that hired me.

Now must I ponder deep,
Meditate, and struggle on;
E'en sometimes I must weep;
For he who love would keep
Great pain has undergone.

Fled are the days of ease,
The days of Love's delight;
When flowers still would please
And give to suffering soul surcease
From pain and sorrow's blight.

One by one they have passed on,
All I love and moved among;
Dead or married – from me gone,
For all I place my heart upon
By fate adverse are stung.

Go thou, too. O Muse, depart, other regions fairer find;
For my land but offers art
For the laurel, chains that bind,
For a temple prison blind.

But before thou leavest me, speak:
Tell me with thy voice sublime,
Thou coldst ever me seek
A song of sorrow for the weak,
Defiance to the tyrant's crime.

REACTION

Among the literary pieces of Rizal, this poem struck me most. I chose this poem because it shows an affectionate feeling to the readers. It was a touching, moving and a pitiful literary piece of Rizal. He addressed this poem to his family in those times when he was worried and depressed. This poem was passionate in feeling. It opened the eyes of our countrymen to woke up to the reality in those days of depression. It allows the readers to be sensible of what Rizal had surpassed when he was in