The dawn of a new day

A Filipino
I am proud to be
Inheritors of a glorious past
Proud of my forbears -- the bold Malaya

I am sprung from a hardy race
Child of many generations
Removed of ancient Malayan pioneers
Across the centuries,
The memory comes rushing back to me

Strong, brown as a burnt grass
Stripped to the waist
Like muscles rippling under a skin smooth as satin
Burnt by the noon day sun as swift barangays
Drove through rough and sunny seas

Proud I am
Proud of the many centuries
Of peaceful village life, of folkways, slowly ripening
Of laws and customs of gradually growing.

Proud of our patience and endurance as a people
Proud that amidst all the injustices and torture
Weve always emerge on the victor
While we remained patient, enduring and uncomplaining

Prouder still are we
That through all the years
The fire of freedom was yet unquenched
And blazed freely against oppression

Proud am I, of the revolt
That opened the eyes of the world
to an island, unknown.
The heroes its made, the people who died
To restore wit dignity, the freedom with held.

And proud am I to know
That though many have fallen in the night
Others will continue rising
To keep the flames of freedom burning.

I am a Filipino
This is my inheritance
What pledge shall I give
That may prove worthy of my inheritance?
I shall give the pledge that has come ringing down
The corridors of the centuries,
It shall be compounded of the joyous cries
Of my Malayan forbears,
When they first saw the contours of this land
The battle cries, that have resounded in every
Field of combat, in unending search for freedom and happiness
From Mactan to EDSA of voice of the people when they
Sing and shout.

I am a Filipino, born of freedom
And I shall not rest
Until freedom shall have been added into my inheritance
For you, myself and our children's children.

A Filipino
Rejoicing in the past,
Glorious in the present
But O! What greater joy

To know that the dawn has brought a new day
A dawn fast brightening in the morning,
A dawn of a new joy, when we are free again
More glorious than any that has been before.

A day when I, my sons and daughters
Will free again the freedom regained
Proud to call my self again
A FILIPINO!!!