Me Piden Versos (They Ask Me for Verses) reflects Dr.

Jose Rizals longing for his

native land, the Philippines. This poem was read in Circulo Hispano-Filipino on New
Years Eve in Madrid and was written in 1882. He wrote this because he was actually
asked for verses. He reminisced his childhood days. It can be seen in the poem how
he missed the Philippines very much and how painful it is for him to leave his
motherland

Me Piden Versos
by Dr. Jos Rizal
Rizal lived a frugal life in Madrid, strictly budgeting both his (1) money for food,
clothing and school materials; and (2)time for his studies and social life. He
longed to go back to see his mother. But he must continue studying medicine
until he could restore her sight. So he fought down his longing to return,
although, as Retana wrote, Homesickness invaded his spirit every hour-- he was
so many leagues from those he loved! In the first and most acute stages of his
longing for home his mother wrote asking him to write poetry, and he poured
into the answer all the melancholy of his aching soul. He joined the Circulo
Hispano Filipino and wrote the poem, Me Piden Versos (They Asked Me for
Verses). It was published October 7, 1882.
.
Consuelo Ortiga y Perz or Consuelo Ortiga y Rey was one of the many women in
Dr. Jose Rizals life. She was the daughter of Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, the thenAlcalde of Manila and president of the Consejo de Filipinas in Madrid. Her father,
intimately called El Padre Eterno (The Eternal Father) by the Filipino expatriates,
often held informal gatherings for the students in his home. The Ortigas residence
was situated in Madrid and was also frequented by Dr. Jose Rizal and his
compatriots.
Consuelo and Rizals love affair was further evidenced by the writings of Consuelo in
her diary where she kept the record of her relationship with Rizal. Moreover, Rizal
dedicated his poem A La Seorita C.O. y R. to Consuelo. The said poem is now
dubbed as one of the best poems written by Rizal.
Consuelo Ortiga y Rey: The "Crush ng Bayan" in Rizal's Time
Posted Mon, 08/05/2013 - 14:32 by admin

Consuelo Ortiga y Rey: The "Crush ng Bayan" in Rizal's Time

Copyright 2013 by Jensen DG. Maebog

She was probably very likable because at least two Filipinos in Spain in Jose Rizals
time had had feelings for her.

Consuelo Ortiga y Rey was considered the prettier of the daughters of Don Pablo
Ortiga y Rey, the Spanish liberal and former mayor of Manila who became vicepresident of the Council of the Philippines in the Ministry of Colonies. Very
supportive to the Filipinos in Madrid, Don Pablos house was the common meeting
place of Circulo Hispano-Filipino members like Rizal. The Ortiga residence was thus
frequented by Filipino lads especially that Don Pablo had beautiful daughters.

Consuelo recorded in her diary that she first met Rizal on September 16, 1882 when
he went to Spain for the first time primarily to study. The diary entry indicated that
they talked the whole night and that the young Filipino said many beautiful things
about her. The Spanish ladyalso wrote of a day Rizal spent at their house when he
entertained them with his ingenious humor, elegance, and sleight-of-hand tricks.
Most likely, Consuelo had witnessed Rizals recitation of a poem on October 4, 1882
in the effort to save a Filipino meeting from disintegration. Rizal had also recorded
either in his diary or letters that he attended another meeting of compatriots in
Ortigas residence on October 7, 1882 and the birthday party of Consuelos father
on January 15, 1883.

The following year (1884), Rizal and other compatriots attended (again) the
birthday party of Don Pablo in which there was a dance. It was not clear if Rizal had
a dance with Consuelo but five days after, he sent her a piece of guimaras cloth.
Rizal recorded that he again went to see Consuelo on February 10 after doing
something at the university district. On March 15, Rizal and other compatriots
including Eduardo de Letewere again gathered in the Ortiga house.

Lete was actually one of the reasons Rizal gave up his affection for
Consuelo. Lete seriously liked Ms. Ortiga and Rizal did not wish to ruin their
friendship over a lady. It was said that even Maximino and Antonio Paterno, Rizals
good friends, regularly visited the lady. (Thus, we can submit that Consuelo was the
crush ng bayan among Filipinos in Madrid in Rizals time).

It can be remembered that Eduardo de Lete (the karibal) was one of the
Filipinos who promised Rizal of helping in the writing of a nationalistic novel but
ended up contributing nothingfor they, according to Rizal, were more interested to
write on women and would rather spend their time gambling or flirting with Spanish
women. It was not clear if Lete and Consuelo became an item but this Letewhom
Rizal considered in suppressing his feelings for Consuelolater attacked the hero
through an article in La Solidaridad on April 15, 1892 depicting Rizal as coward,
egoistic, opportunistic, and someone who had abandoned the countrys cause.
Officially therefore, this Lete had hurt the heros feeling not just once but at least
twice.
Rizals admiration for Consuelo was immortalized by the poem he wrote, A
La Seorita C.O. y R. This poem which is now subjectively regarded as one of Rizals
best was written either as a reaction to Consuelos request or out of Rizals pure
volition as an admirer. Ultimately though, Rizal really had to give up his feeling for
Consuelo for he was then still engaged to Leonor Rivera.( 2013 by Jensen DG.
Maebog)
A La Seorita C.O. y R.
A la Seorita C. O. y R. is a poem written by the Philippine national hero, Jose
Rizal dedicated to Consuelo Ortiga y Rey, the daughter of Don Pablo Ortiga who fell
in love with him. But unfortunately, Rizal backed out on this relationship because he
wanted to be loyal to Leonor Rivera. This became one of his best poems. He wrote
this on 22 August 1883.
The poem speaks of Rizal not being happy and definitely confused on the
relationship he has with Consuelo:
You wish to learn the cause of this dejection Delirium of despair that anguish wove?
You wish to know the wherefore of such sorrows, and why, a young soul, I sing not of
love?
He also described Consuelo as a corpse buried in his stuffing. Rizal had still a
relationship with Leonor Rivera when he had a relationship with Consuelo, and he
couldnt take cheating on Leonor.

Consuelo wrote this revealing entry in her diary: "They

saythat he is attracted to someone too tall for him and has done
everything to get over it but tono avail. I listen to him with pleasure as he
speaks so well. I'm afraid he might think I amleading him on, which is true,

but I happen to like his conservation. I let myself get carried away and
when he leaves, I feel sad; [but] when he is back, I do exactly the same
thing" (Spanish original, loose translation is mine)

The diary
According to Consuelos diary, she met Rizal on September 16, 1882 when she was
introduced to two Filipinos named Rizal and Perio. However, the first lengthy
conversation happened in January 18, 1883. Consuelo wrote:

Rizal talked with me for a long time, almost the whole night. He told me that I was
very talented, that I was very diplomatic, and that he was going to see if he could
extract some truth from me within two weeks; that I was mysterious and that I had
a veil over my ideas
She also wrote: Rizal told me that he detested amiable women because when they
smiled, men imagined that they did so for something else. As he had told me the
night before that I was very amiable, I understood that he meant it and I left him so
that he would not make a mistake. A man should first study the ground and if he
sees that the smile is for everybody he ought not to pay attention to her smiles
because in distributing them so freely they lose all their meaning.
Based on Consuelos writings, Rizal seemed to have some reservations which keep
him from initially pursuing Consuelo. However, these reservations were finally worn
down in February 26, 1883 when Consuelo wrote:

. . . Rizal is also in love; he has not declared this but almost, almost. He told me
last night that he had a sickness that would not leave him except when traveling
and that was only perchance.
Consuelos tone was filled with hope and expectation. However, Eduardo de Lete,
one of Consuelos suitors and Rizals compatriot as well, contended for her
attention. Consuelo originally preferred Lete, but she was evidently attracted to
Rizal and was worried about his intense feelings for her. She wrote:

He also told me and I understood why, that two brothers had killed each other
because both played the same card, that is, because both loved the same woman.
He said that he had taken notice of one who was very tall for him but in spite of the
fact that he had done it to amuse himself, it was useless.

I listened to him with pleasure because he talks well and I fear that because of that
he may think that Im giving him hope, as it is in reality, but as it happens that I like
his conversation, I abandon myself to it and then when he goes away, Im sorry; he
comes and again I do the same thing.
Because Consuelo was indeed pretty, she also had to deal with other suitors aside
from Rizal and Lete. It was also during that time when the brothers Maximino and
Antonio Paterno visit her regularly. Consuelo seemed to be thorned between many
good men but after a series of self-contemplation, ended up preferring Rizal among
these good men.

I find myself in a position of not knowing which side to take: Lete on one side, Rizal
on the other, on another the two brothers; all attack and I have nothing with which
to defend myself except my head, for I dont see, as I go nowhere, my former
admirers, though it would be the same should I see them.

Then I had more suitors than now and I dont know if for that very reason I didnt
give them altogether even ten minutes. Now, on the other hand, I think of them and
my opinion is divided between Rizal and Lete. The first one tempts me by his
manner of speaking and because he seems to me a serious lad, though formal ones
frighten me.
The content of Consuelos diary portrayed a surprising image of our national hero. A
frank, romantic Dr. Jose Rizal who shamelessly expresses his feelings for such a
wonderful woman. Consuelo wrote on February 24, 1883:

Last night as in former times I was talking with Rizal. He said that now if he would
make love to a girl, he would do it with the mouth, inasmuch as my heart is dry, as
you know.

This is what I vaguely recall of our conversation; but in the struggle of that soul, in
the profound meaning of his words that he articulated one by one underlining them
with the accents of passion that he could ill conceal, there was a moment when I
seemed to hear him (presumption of my youth, perhaps!) say: Youre the woman
who has performed that miracle, I love you, and certainly, or my heart deceives me
greatly, who know if the satisfaction of being loved, of the mere fact of being so,
certainly it seemed to me that he was at the point of saying it, but he refrained from
doing so, not so much for the fear of being repulsed but for not being a traitor to
that friend, but I can say without fear of making a mistake that there passed
through his imagination all that I wrote and last night he was happy and unfortunate
at the same time.

After some time, Rizal eventually gave up his romantic intentions for Consuelo. Rizal
did not want to compete with Lete, whom he treated as a brother. He was also still
in love with Leonor. Consuelo, on her part, admitted to Rizal that she could not
reciprocate his love, as he had wished.

Rizal told me the other night that they had written him telling him that his family
would be glad if he would return to the Philippines in June. His manner of saying it
made me understand that it was like flight Conversing with me he said that he
had not yet understood me, that he didnt know what I think of him.

As a friend, I said to him. Would you want more?

Its true thats enough, he replied with a slight irony.

The intimate records on Consuelos diary ended on May 28, 1884 when Rizal came
to their house one morning to bid farewell. Until the very end, Consuelo could not
help but express her admiration with Rizals ingenious humor and intelligence.

Last night many came to bid us farewell. Rizal was the first to arrive. I had on a
morning cape that I had made out of the cloth that Rizal had given me as a present.
I made a grand impression. I showed it to him saying: So you see Ive fulfilled my
promise; Im dressed like a doll.

Rizal was expressive and bolder than other times, and I mean by this that he told
me some things more clearly; but, as always, he used other persons and images to
tell me what he wanted to say. It pleases me to have to divine his thoughts veiled
with innumerable metaphors and euphemisms, a thing which is not very difficult for
me to understand as I have the key.
Discovery of the diary
The copy of the diary came from Mr. Eduardo de Lete, one of Rizals contemporaries
who became the fiance of Consuelo.
A La Seorita C.O. y R.
Rizal was indeed engrossed with Consuelo and apparently, Consuelo asked him
some romantic verses. One of them was A La Seorita C.O. y R. (To Miss Consuelo
Ortiga y Rey), a poem written by Dr. Jose Rizal on August 22, 1883 which was
dedicated to Consuelo. The poem was about Rizals confusion on his relationship
with Consuelo.

Death
According to Lete, soon after the formalization of their engagement, she soon lost
her humor. It also seems that their marriage did not push through. Lete narrates
that years after her fathers death, Consuelos brother Rafael went to the Philippines
to fill in a government post but died suddenly. Lete further recounts:

She was left alone and abandoned in Madrid. A romantic girl deprived of her
mother at an early age, possessing an education rare in those times, she saw all her
love affairs crumble and all her illusions wither.

She was very unfortunate, dying alone, sad, and abandoned, a victim of
tuberculosis An excellent and illustrious friend communicated to me this news
when I went to Madrid as representative of a very important news agency of London
on the occasion of the marriage of King Alfonso XIII in 1906 May she rest in
peace.
A la Seorita C. O. y R.
Por qu pedir los versos insensatos,
Que, un tiempo, loco de color cant?
Ser tal vez para arrojarme en cara
Mi necia ingratitude, mi amargo ayer?

Por qu evocar recuerdos descraciados

Ora que espera el corazn amar!
Llamar la noche al sonrer el da
Sin saber si otro da brillar!

Queris hallar la causa de este tedio,

Delirio de despecho, o de dolor?
Queris saber por qu tantos pesares,
Por qu joven alma, no cant el amor?

Ignoradlo por siempre! Que su causa

Tristezas d, mas os har rer;

Con mi cadaver sepultado en mi!

Un imposible, una ambicin, locura,

Sueos del alma, una passion tal vez. . .
Bebed el nctar que en la vida sirven,
Dejad tranquilo reposar la hiel.

De Nuevo siento las espesas sobras

Cubrir el alma con su denso tul;
Capullo s no ms, no flor Hermosa;
Pues te falta la atmsfera y la luz. . .

Tenedlos all, pobres versos mos!

Hijos malditos que lacto el pesar:
Sabis muy bien a quien deben su vida,
Y ellos a vos os lo dirn quizs.
Translations
To Miss Consuelo Ortiga y Rey
(Translated from the Spanish by Nick Joaquin)

Why ask for those unintellectual verses

that once, insane with grief, I sang aghast?
Or are you may be throwing in my face
my rank ingratitude, my bitter past?

Why resurrect unhappy memories

now when the heart awaits from love a sign,
or call the night when day begins to smile,
not knowing if another day will shine?

You wish to learn the cause of this dejection

Delirium of despair that anguish wove?
You wish to know the wherefore of such sorrows,
and why, a young soul, I sing not of love?

Oh, may you never know why! For the reason

brings melancholy but may set you laughing.
Down with my corpse into the grave shall go
another corpse that's buried in my stuffing!

Something impossible, ambition, madness,

dreams of the soul, a passion and its throes
Oh, drink the nectar that life has to offer
and let the bitter dregs in peace repose!

Again I feel the impenetrable shadows

shrouding the soul with the thick veils of night:
a mere bud only, not a lovely flower,
because it's destitute of air and light
Behold them: my poor verses, my damned brood
and sorrow suckled each and every brat!
Oh, they know well to what they owe their being,
and maybe they themselves will tell you what.
Rizal the Mason

Freemasonry is a fraternal organization that took root in Europe

and spread all over the world. Its basic aims are to strive for moral betterment,
work for the welfare of others, and bring about a universal league of mankind
(Watson in Licauco, 2008). Jose P. Rizal was a freemason who condemned the
corrupt ways of the Church and upheld individual and national liberty.

When Rizal arrived in Spain in 1882, he found a country that was strongly
influenced by Masonic thought. In 1868, less than twenty years before his arrival,
Masons like Juan Prim led the revolution that set up a liberal government which
advocated for education. Masonic principles like individual liberty, freedom of
speech, equality, religious tolerance, separation of Church and State, and others
were also made part of the laws. (Fajardo, 1996)

In 1884, Rizal began to write Noli MeTangere to expose the political and religious
corruption of Philippine society. Later that year, he delivered a speech at a banquet
organized in honor of Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, who had both won
gold and silver medals at the Exposicin Nacional de Bellas Artes. In the speech,
Rizal expressed his deep regard for Spain, but condemned the friars in the
Philippines. When copies of the speech reached Manila, he earned the anger and
enmity of the authorities who called him a filibustero or a subversive. According to
Jorge Bocobo, Rizal believed that one could be a good and moral person without the
need for organized religion or the one true faith.

Rizal adopted the Masonic name Dimasalang when he was anointed under the Gran
Oriente de Espaa. Rizal is said to have been influenced to join Masonry by Miguel
Morayta, a history professor at the Universidad de Madrid. Revolutionaries such as
Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Ladislao Diwa, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Juan Luna,
Deodato Arellano, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, H. Pardo de Tavera, and so many others in
the Propaganda Movement and La Liga Filipina were also Masons and as such were
automatically excommunicated as decreed for all Catholics becoming Masons since
1738 and reaffirmed by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in 1990.
In 1912, Rizal's family did not heed the Jesuits request to rebury their eminent
pupil. That honor was instead bestowed upon the Masons, led by Timoteo Paez who,
in full regalia, carried Rizal's remains in a long procession to the Masonic Temple in
Tondo for funeral rites, before final interment at the Luneta, where he had been
executed for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy 16 years before.
However, a controversy remains on whether or not Rizal recanted Masonry before
he died. There were allegedly three eye-witnesses to his retraction: Fathers
Balaguer and Viza of the Society of Jesus and Captain Rafael Dominguez, who claim
that Rizal had signed a document of retraction and conversion before he was
executed. Captain Rafael Dominguez, who was with Rizal during Rizals last hours,
mentioned it in his notes, which were an hour by hour record of Rizals last
moments (Zafra, 1951). On the other hand, others believe that the documents
produced by the Jesuits were fake and altered and the testimonies given were
coached. They assert that the Catholic Church only started to claim Rizal as their

own once they realized that the people had learned to love and admire Rizal
(Fajardo, 1996).
Key Masonic teachings our national hero lived by:
1) freedom to search knowledge and share it in anyway you want
2) seperation of Church and State
3) no to opression of the individual's drive to excellence
4) freedom and tolerance of one's race and religion (no to religious and racial
discrimination)
5) no to being hoodwinked to the truth by the religious/friars (science can offer a lot
of explnations to the so called "miracles" propagated by the friars)
6) Religion, specifically in his time, supresses the individual from discovering the
world out there. He wrote with passion that he despises the friars because they use
religion to show that it is the only way to truth and salvation.
Rizal and the Masonry
It has been debated in many schools in the
Philippines for many years about the
involvement of Jose Rizal to Masonry and his
retraction issues with the Catholic Religion.
Jose Rizal was considered as the most
intellectual activist of his time, he had
mastered several languages and different fields
of sciences. He was a sort of reformist who
believes that wisdom is the key to achieve
freedom for the country. He had discouraged
revolution and promote education instead. As a
true evidence to his devotion to wisdom he
joined the organization that promotes wisdom
-- The Masonry.

RIZAL'S MASONRY
masonry
On Masonry

While he studied in Spain, in 1883, Rizal joined the Masonic Lodge Acacia in Madrid.
On November 15, 1890 Rizal became Master Mason in Lodge Solidaridad. Rizal
was taken back by the free-thinking. The Spanish masons proclaimed a new era of
freedom from restrictions of government and the church. Joining the mason order
made sense because it was a dedicated organization which points out the friars

abuses in the Philippines. It was an acknowledgement that Spanish government in

Manila needed to reform itself.32

Background of the Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a fraternal organization, and, according to legend, it was organized
in 45 B.C. during the construction of King Solomons temple in Jerusalem. The
purpose of forming the Knights Templar in Jerusalem in 1118 A.D. was to protect the
pilgrims on their journey from Jaffa. Their documented origin in Scotland was in the
16th and early 17th centuries. In the Philippines, the Freemasonry existed prior to
1756. The first Filipino initiated into the masonry was Jacobo Zobel in 1871.
Worldwide, there are approximately five million members today. At the time Dr.
Rizals youth, however, the existence of the Freemasonry Society was largely
unknown to the Filipino natives, and membership was usually limited to Spaniards. (
http://www.missourinumismaticsociety.org/Journals)

Dr. Rizals Freemasonry Membership

Dr. Rizal joined the freemasonry in Madrid in 1883 at the Acacia Lodge No. 9 Grande
Orientes de Espana with the symbolic name of Dimasalang, which translates as
Untouchable. In 1890, Dr. Rizal became a Master Mason at the Logia Solidaridad
53 in Madrid, and two years later, he was designated Honorable and Venerable
Master at the Nilad Lodge, Manila, where he gave a lecture titled, La Masoneria.
While living in Europe, Dr. Rizal obtained affiliations with Masonic lodges in France,
England and Germany and then visited lodges in New York.

..Masonry preaches and practices the sacred principles of liberty, equality, and
fraternity among all men and they compose the Masonic virtues, the only virtues
whose practice would banish among men wars and abuses and bring about that
state of which all great reformers dream. In this concept, for the present, virtue has
no other temple but the Masonic temple from which emerge some gleams of light
that illuminate the minds of many lay thinkers. In this concept. Virtue is no longer a
barren, rare, unnatural, fierce or devout quality. Virtue becomes beautiful, fruitful,
civilizing, and universal for what is more beautiful than the liberty, equality, and
fraternity of all men?33
What was the significance of joining a Masonic order? It was an act that helped
Rizals political reputation. The Masons were known for their liberal ideas.

Why did Dr. Rizal join the Freemasonry?

Research does not specify his reasons for doing so, thus we look to those influences
that may have molded the mind of this Philippine hero. Despite his devout Catholic

upbringing, Dr. Rizals decision to become a freemason came as a direct result of his
well-rounded education, experience, travel and ultimately, his belief that fraternity
and brotherhood would help him achieve his dream of the eventual liberation of the
Filipino people and country from injustice, inequality and abuse from the religious
friars and local Spanish rule.
Other possible influences included family members like his uncle, Alberto Alonso, a
mason and Knight Commander of the Spanish Order of Isabel the Catholic and
Carlos III. Also, Dr. Rizals elder brother, Paciano, worked for Father Jose Burgos and
harbored bitter personal feelings about the Cavite Martyrdom of 1872. Paciano
made a pact with his younger brother to continue their fight for the betterment of
the Filipino people. When Dr. Rizal left Manila in 1882, he carried with him growing
resentment after witnessing the injustices suffered by his mother and the people of
Calamba, and after his own personal experiences of inequity and maltreatment by
Spanish students and teachers at the Universidad de Santo Tomas.
En route to Spain in 1882, Dr. Rizal passed through Naples, Italy, where he spent
two days observ-ing national celebrations to honor the death of a great national
hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882). Dr. Rizal learned that Garibaldi was a 33rd
degree Scottish rite Master Mason best recognized for unifying his country. Upon
arrival in Madrid, Dr. Rizal met many intellectuals who were masons
and, to his surprise, exercised unbridled freedom of speech and activity concepts
unfamiliar to Dr. Rizal in his native country. He was soon deeply influenced by
Miguel Morayta, Professor of History at the Universidad Central de Madrid, and ExPresident Francisco Pi y Margall, both master masons and both staunch advocates of
Philippine independence from Spain. These men ultimately played a significant role
facilitating Dr. Rizals membership at the Acacia Lodge No. 9 Grand Orientes de
Espana in Madrid. Despite his many studies and activities, Dr. Rizal soon became
very active with the freemasons.