On August 13, 1898, the US and Spain staged a mock battle in Intramuros, the walled City of Manila. The US “won.” A few months later Spain sold the Philippines to the United States for $20 million. This was the prelude to the bloody annexation of the Philippines by the US. Amado Hernandez’s poem “Kung Tuyo Na Ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan” is from the book “Isang Dipang Langit.” It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to translate the poem. My free translation is a work in progress.
Translation by Rene J. Navarro (1980)
When Your Tears Are Dry, Pilipinas
Cry now, Pilipinas, cry with the deepest grief,
Cry over the sad fate of your sad land.
Your flag is a hostage to a foreign flag,
Your speech a slave to a foreign tongue.
And so it was on freedom’s funeral,
On the 13th of August
America conquered the ancient capital.
Cry now, Pilipinas, as the foreign hordes exult on your graveyard.
For you a requiem, for them a glorious march.
You are like Juli, to servitude condemned.
You are like Sisa, by despair deranged.
Without strength to protest,
Without a will to fight,
You weep when abused,
You wail when victimized.
Cry for the loss of freedom’s life-breath.
Your wealth plundered,
Your liberty curtailed.
Observe your land: over its soil flies a foreign flag.
Observe your sea: on its waters sails a foreign ship.
Cry now, Filipinas, if hope has withered in your breast.
Cry now if darkness lords your days.
Cry now if anger is frozen in your veins.
Cry now if no one stands vigil for the dawn.
Cry now, Filipinas, on your freedom’s deathbed.
But watch for the night when your tears dry up.
Watch for the night when from your eyes will flow,
Not tears but fire: fire that burns with the color of blood.
Blood that boils like molten lead.
And you will shout “Freedom!” amid a million lights.
Shout to the night that eternal word
And break the chain of bondage with a sword.