How Boots & King celebrated Valentine

Lovi Poe and Rocco Nacino hied off to Baguio for a far-from-the-maddening-crowd Valentine date, while newlywed Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes chose El Nido in Palawan for a virtually second “honeymoon.”

So how did other lovers mark Love Day?

Still on honeymoon mode seven months after they got married in June last year, lawyer King Rodrigo and Boots Anson-Roa-Rodrigo did it a more romantic way — in words full of love.

King wrote a poem for Boots. Here it is:         

Handog kay Elisa

Ang pagmamahal ko kay Maria Elisa

Ay pilit bibigyan ng buhay at sigla

Sa pamamagitan n’yaring aking pluma

Na aking minana sa yumaong ama.

Ang isip at diwa’y pawang sinaliksik

At pinailanglang ang aking panitik

Upang maihayag ang aking pag-ibig

Kay sintang Elisa na kaisang-dibdib.

Ako ay panatag sa kanyang pag-ibig.

May katiwasayan itong aking dibdib

At nanahimik din ang mga paligid.

Pati si Satanas ay waring naidlip.

N’yaring aking puso na dating malumbay

Ngayon ay masigla at buhay na buhay.

Ang tibok at pintig’y mistulang kundiman

Na nagpapahayag ng aming suyuan.

Itong mga mata’y walang kasawaan

Na lagging sulyapa’ng kanyang kagandahan

Na araw at gabi’y nasa ‘king isipan.

Ang mga bisig ko kapag siya’y yakap

Lahat ng mithiin at mga pangarap

Na no’ng nakaraa’y nasa alapaap

Ngayon ay narito’t pawang nagaganap.

Walang bukas bibig kundi ang pangalan

Ng aking kabiyak….aking kasintahan...

Kasama sasaya at sa kalungkutan

Sa hirap’t ginhawa hanggang kamatayan.

Handog kay Elisa sa araw ng puso

Ay ang tulang ito at ang buong ako.

And Boots returned the love also with a poem she wrote for King. Here it is:

You’re my Every-King

(With apologies to Joni James)

By Boots Anson-Rodrigo

“You’re my every-King,

Underneath the sun.

You’re my everything,

Rolled up into one.

You’re my only dream,

My only real reality.

You’re my idea

Of a perfect personality……..”

And she also wrote an essay dripping heavily with LOVE (in capital letters).

And so the Joni James 50’s chart buster goes on……..

Like our life together which started eight months ago.

Eight months of a veritable Honeymoon, a constantly evolving and nurturing togetherness which, from all indications, will last a lifetime.

Often in the recent past, we would  “cow-eye” each other and, with incredulity, echo:  “We must have done something good in our childhood. How can all of this be true!”

But even if we were not “that good”; and , therefore, unworthy, the reality is “God is always good, and unconditionally giving and loving.”

And, in your Godly ways, you are good, my King, and unconditionally giving and loving.

I gush again, as I often do: I have yet to meet a man with so little of himself and so much of others as you. You have such a great and intense capacity to give and love, even if it hurts at times. And the wonder of you is: you proclaim your love, whether in whispers or at mountaintops. More importantly, you witness to it by your every gesture, by your every deed. Your Love is your Faith translated into Word and Action.

Everything happens for a reason; nothing happens by chance. We were recently privileged to talk to Pope Francis in whispers, amidst exulted and cheering thousands in a full-packed arena. It was altogether edifying, humbling and cathartic. Again, we asked in incredulity: “How can all of this be true!”

The truth of that moment resonates in the daily acts of proclamation and witnessing that permeate your love – for Him and, for us, your loved ones. You are Grace-filled. We are blessed.

From one who had always preferred to just express love in action; from one who mutely witnessed to such love, let me proclaim as you constantly do: I love you, King. And I honor you.

(If all couples, young and old, were like Boots and King, the world would be a lovelier and more exciting place to fall in love in, wouldn’t it be?)

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)