Child Jesus
Why have you come to earth,
Child-God, in a poor manger?
Does Fortune find you a stranger
from the moment of your birth?
Alas, of heavenly stock
now turned an earthly resident!
Do you not wish to be president
but the shepherd of your flock?
Background
“Child Jesus” was written in Spanish by Jose Rizal in 1875 at the age of 14. The poem is an octave real or a short poem with eight verses only which was actually according to the Spanish standard of writing poems.
