“True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.” -Brigham Young

Of this period in 1879, Rizal wrote, “My second year as a boarder [1876-77] was like the first, except that in that time there had been a great development of my patriotic sentiments, as well as an acute quickness of perception.”

In the following year, 1878, his poem, “A la juventud filipina,” took the prize offered in Manila for the best poem by an Indio or mestizo.

To the Philippine Youth

Hold high the brow serene
O youth, where now you stand;
Let the bright sheen
Of your grace be seen,
Fair hope of my fatherland!

Come now, thou genius grand,
And bring down inspiration;
With thy mighty hand,
Swifter than the wind’s violation,
Raise the eager mind to higher station.

Come down with pleasing light
Of art and science to the fight,
O youth, and there untie
The chains that heavy lie,
Your spirit free to blight.

See how in flaming zone
Amid the shadows thrown,
The Spaniard’s holy hand
A crown’s resplendent band
Proffers to this Indian land.

Thou, who now wouldst rise
On wings of rich emprise,
Seeking from Olympian skies
Songs of sweetest strain,
Softer than ambrosial rain;

Thou, whose voice divine
Rivals Philomel’s refrain
And with varied line
Through the night benign
Frees mortality from pain;

Thou, who by sharp strife
Wakest thy mind to life;
And the memory bright
Of thy genius’ light
Makest immortal in its strength;

And thou, in accents clear
Of Phoebus, to Apelles dear;
Or by the brush’s magic art
Takest from nature’s store a part,
To fig it on the simple canvas’ length;

Go forth, and then the sacred fire
Of thy genius to the laurel may aspire;
To spread around the fame,
And in victory acclaim
Through wider spheres the human name.

Day, O happy day,
Fair Filipinas, for thy land!
So bless the Power today
That places in thy way
This favor and this fortune grand!