German Embassy in Manila celebrates World Poetry Day 2023

The German Embassy in Manila celebrated World Poetry Day 2023 on March 21, 2023. Germany is also Known as “The Land of Poets and Thinkers.” The Germans share a deep love for poetry with the Philippines.

The German Embassy honoured World Poetry Day by sharing the respect for art and also read the excerpt from a national hero of the Philippines and writer Dr Jose Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Rizal’s final poem “Mi Ultimo Adios” (My Last Farewell), one of the last notes he wrote before his death; which has been converted into German as “Letzte Worte” by Elke Hack-Ulmer.

Dr Jose Rizal’s life and work have also served as cornerstones to German-Philippine friendship. Famously, Dr Jose Rizal spent time in the German town of Wilhemsfeld before eventually publishing his revolutionary novel “Noli Me Tangere” in Berlin.

Dr Jose Rizal’s write-up “Mi Ultimo Adios” was one of the last notes before his death, found in his shoes; the illegible texts by Rizal’s remained a mystery. Dr Jose didn’t describe any title to his excerpt; the title of this excerpt was given by his friend and fellow reformist “Mariano Ponce” titled “Mi último pensamiento.”

A day before Dr Rizals’s execution, on December 29, 1896, Dr Jose last visited his mother and sisters and two nephews; when his mother and sisters took leave, Dr Jose Rozal said that there was something in his alcohol box that was a coconut lamp which provided cover for the transportation of the written content. That stove was later given to his sister Narcisa by the guard in the Courtyard when the part was about to board; at home, the family members of Rizal’s found a folded paper from the stove, an unsigned, untitled and undated poem was written of about 14 stanzas, his family members reproduced the copies of his last poem. They sent it to his friend Mariano Ponce in Hong Kong.

In 1897, The Dr Jose Rizal’s last poem was titled “Mí último pensamiento”, while on September 26, 1898, the poem was first published with the title ‘Ultimo Adios’ by a prisoner in Bilibid jail.