Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say good…

These are Juliet’s last words at the end of the balcony scene, in Act II, scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet. The lovers have exchanged vows, and she will send a messenger to him “By the hour of nine”. Romeo is leaving when Juliet calls him back, then forgets why. Dawn is near; she would have him gone, but no further than a pet bird that a playful girl lets hop from her hand, then pulls back on a silk thread.

“I would I were thy bird,” says Romeo. “Sweet, so would I,” she answers, “Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing”, a tender phrase that foreshadows the end. Then comes the farewell, with its paradox of “sweet sorrow”: parting hurts, but promises the joy of meeting again. Romeo leaves to seek Friar Laurence’s help.

Shakespeare wrote the play in the mid-1590s; it was first printed in 1597. Within a few days the lovers will be married, parted and dead, which gives this playful goodbye its poignancy.

Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene 2 (Juliet), 1597

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