JOANNE IGNACIO LIBRANDO

“Like The Molave”

1st STANZA

“Not yet, Rizal,/ not yet.// Sleep not in peace://

there are a thousand waters to be spanned;//

there are a thousand mountains to be crossed;//

there are a thousand crosses to be borne.//

Our shoulders are not strong;/ our sinews are

grown flaccid with dependence,/ smug with ease

under another’s wing.//”

Rest not in peace;/

I think it means that :Its easier for us to depend on others.

2nd stanza

Not yet Rizal,/ not yet.// The land has need/

of young blood/ and/ what younger than your own,/

Forever spilled in the great name of freedom,//

Forever oblate on the altar of the free?//

I think the 2nd stanza means he died for our freedom.

3rd stanza

Not you alone,Rizal.//

O souls and spirits of the martyred brave,/arise!//Arise and scour the land!//

Shed once again your willing blood!//Infuse the

vibrant red into our thin anemic veins;/until we pick up your Promethean tools and,/ strong,/

out of the depthless matrix of your faith

in us,/and on the silent cliffs of freedom,/

We carve for all time your marmoreal dream!/

Until our people ,/seeing,/are become

Like the molave,/firm,/resilient,/staunch,/

Rising on the hillside,/unafraid,/

Strong in its own fibre;yes,/like the molave!//

I think this stanza means he should spread his character until we are ready to face any incoming events.

4th stanza

Not, yet,/ Rizal,/ not yet.// The glory hour will come.//

Out of the silent dreaming,/

from the seven-thousand fold silence,/ we shall emerge,/ saying:/ WE ARE FILIPINOS,/

And no longer be ashamed.//

I think the persona meant on this stanza we should be proud that we are Filipinos

5th stanza

Sleep not in peace.// The dream is not yet fully carved.//

Hard the wood,/ but harder the blows.//

Yet the molave will stand.//

Yet the molave monument will rise.//

And gods walk on brown legs.//

I think this stanza meant that were not yet that strong.