Pre-Saint

So far, my Love Referendum tally stands as per the scoreboard above. There are still a few days of vote casting to go, before we will find out categorically whether love is a good thing or not.

I’ve reached out to many characters from history, and asked them to have a say whether they think love is a good thing (Yes), or not (No). I’ve also asked them to provide a haiku, because it is for a blog post, and a quick reason why they voted the way they did.

Today, I’ve gone right back to the beginning of the ‘Common Era’ as it is known nowadays, and found this chap in a monastery in the heart of Rome town centre.

His name is Auga Valentin, and I believe him to be the person who becomes St Valentine. Oh yes! Not just any saint, but Saint Valentine himself is here, on this blog. And casting a vote in my Referendum on Love to boot! (He wasn’t too keen on having his photo taken, having never seen a mobile phone before, and tried to cast me out as the Devil Incarnate. I managed to convince him otherwise, when I took a Selfie of myself and showed him that nothing too bad could happen taking a photo on the phone. Unfortunately, I’d gotten the angle wrong, and my nose looked ever more bulbous than it had done before, which made him laugh when I showed it to him. Fortunately, he agreed to be photographed!)

Then, I had to explain to him the concept of a haiku. You think everyone knows these things, but it turns out they don’t. I told him it is a Japanese form of poetry, in three lines, with some kind of link to nature – that isn’t always necessary – and each line has a set number of syllables: line one has five syllables, line two has seven syllables and line three has five syllables.

I then had to explain the concept of a syllable, and then Japan.

Eventually, he got it, and wrote this:

Amor est essentia

Haec spiravit calor sicut sol

???

After I realised that he hadn’t completely forgotten the concept of the haiku, I realised he was writing in Latin. Translated into haiku form, he said:

Love is an essence

A warmth like the Sun

Saint Valentine votes: YES

You never know with these things how the vote will turn out, I mean Cupid, in the first vote, voted ‘no’ so absolutely anything is possible. This is also the reason why I’ve posted this today and not on Valentine’s day, just in case. I also didn’t mention St Valentine’s Day to St Valentine, in case it went to his head. We don’t know what repercussions could happen if we interfere with history. Maybe St Valentine’s Day never came into existence. Hmmm… perhaps I should go back and tell him… nah. I’ll leave things as they are.

Saint Valentine says: “It is compassion. Trust. Understanding. Strength. Good, good qualities that cost nothing and give so much. I cannot vote any other way than ‘yes’, love is a good thing.”

There will be another vote tomorrow.