TO MS. C.O. Y. RInterpreted By:

Rod Jasper A. Gacayan and Josef Joshua Valdez

This poem was dedicated to Consuelo Ortiga y Rey, the daughter of Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, a former

Mayor of Manila.

The hero probably fell in love with her and the lady apparently asked him for romantic verses: instead he

gave her this discordant and stark poem.

Who: Dedicated to Consuelo Ortiga y Rey

Where: Madrid, Manila

When: Time of Rizal; Before Leonor Rivera

What: A Poem

Why: Rizal fell in love with Consuelo

Why ask for those unintellectual verses that once, insane with grief,

I sang aghast?

Or are you maybe throwing in my face my rank

ingratitude, my bitter past?

The man refused to make romantic verses that was once rejected

and unappreciated

and it makes him bitter

only if reminded of such.

Why resurrect unhappy memories now when the

heart awaits from love a sign

Or call the night when the day begins to smile, not

knowing if another day will shine?

The man tries to tell the

lady that there’s no need

to talk about of his past, and that he is ready to

love

again and that, if she will

accept his love to her.

You wish to learn the cause of this despair that anguish

wove?

You wish to know the wherefore of such sorrows,

and why, a young soul, I sing not of love?

The lady wants to know

why he is in such pain,

the fact he may find

another love again.

Oh, may you never why! For the reason brings melancholy but may set you laughing. Down with the

corpse into the grave shall go another corpse that’s buried in my

stuffing! Something impossible, ambition, madness, dreams of soul, a

passion and its throes…

Oh, drink the nectar that life has to offer and let bitter dregs in peace

repose!

The man refused to reveal

how he suffered from his

past that she might only laugh

at him but instead she has

to look into the love he is offering to her.

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…

This time again, the man

feels like he would be rejected

or the lady will not response

to his lover offering.

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.

The chance of man relies on

the verses he made for

the lady, expecting she would answer to his love

offering.

INTERPRETATION AS A WHOLE

The man rejects to make romantic verses asked by the lady that was once unappreciated and unwanted. The man also tries to tell the lady the lady that he is ready to love again in spite of his suffering from the past that involves Leonor Rivera. The chance of the man depends from his romantic verses, hoping that the lady would answer his love offering.