On the Eve of the Execution by Jaime An Lim

     When I read this poem, I really didn't know what the whole situation was, so it was a bit hard to understand at first. My initials thoughts were that someone was being executed for someone's love of his country, but I couldn't identify who these were until I read the last line. After reading the last line, it was all clear to me. The addressee was Andres Bonifacio. This was obvious since no other Andres was known to have been executed anyways. The overall impression I got from the poem was that the persona seems to be contemplating on his actions. He ponders deeply and says that he really didn't want any of these to happen. With a little recalling of my history lessons, Emilio Aguinaldo came into my mind as the possible persona. I then looked at the different clues of the poem that pointed to this, and it seems that my guess was plausible. The issue I have with this poem is the persona's sincerity. I couldn't tell even though he says that he loves both his country and Andres, since he still decides to push through with the execution. He also says that he sends Bonifacio to a "hero's death." If Aguinaldo was the one to be executed, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be thinking and saying those things, which makes me question his sincerity. My favorite lines in the poem were, "Too long the land lies wounded, the house divided: / child from mother, husband from wife, brother/ from brother," because it shows how serious the division in their group is. It was really close to their heart, like family. The historical background of this poem seems accurate, although some lines may be questionable. Nevertheless, considering all the other Filipino poems I've read for school before, this one has to be my favorite.