Goodbye To Leonor
And so it has arrived -- the fatal instant, the dismal injunction of my cruel fate; so it has come at last -- the moment, the date, when I must separate myself from you. Goodbye, Leonor, goodbye! I take my leave, leaving behind with you my lover's heart! Goodbye, Leonor: from here I now depart. O Melancholy absence! Ah, what pain!
Background
“Goodbye to Leonor” was written by Jose Rizal for his lady love, Leonor Rivera who was only 13 years old when Rizal met her in Dagupan. They kept a long distance relationship by sending letters and photographs to one another but their love affair was strongly disapproved by Leonor’s parents. Later on Rizal’s sweetheart for 11 years was married to Henry Kipping which saddened Rizal terribly, thus this melancholic poem for Leonor.
