Today is Valentine’s Day, as most are well aware. I started festivities early this year by paying homage to Aphrodite Androphonos by deciding to drink something red and tasty at the local bar at 1am this morning.
A Washington Apple was my poison of choice — fitting I thought considering the symbolism of the apple as well as the gorgeous red color of the beverage. Forty dollars later, I figured I’d paid enough homage. Whilst musing in my scarlet misery, I remembered a fragment of Chaucer [undoubtedly dropped into my brain during some tedious college course; dormant until my hour of need].
The Parliament of Fowls is perhaps not the first text to spring to mind when one thinks of Chaucer, but it is germane to today’s holiday, and given my predilection for creatures of the air, it’s not surprising that my apple-drunk self managed to dredge up something. The lines that came to mind were:
For this was on seynt Valentynes day,
Whan every foul cometh ther to chese his make,
Of every kinde, that men thenke may;
And that so huge a noyse gan they make,
That erthe and see, and tree, and every lake
So ful was, that unnethe was ther space
For me to stonde, so ful was al the place.
For those less inclined to wade through Chaucer’s English, here is a prose translation into modern English, which renders the lines quoted above as:
For this was Saint Valentine’s day, when every bird of every kind that men can imagine comes to this place to choose his mate. And they made an exceedingly great noise; and earth and sea and the trees and all the lakes were so full that there was scarcely room for me to stand, so full was the entire place.
For the patient reader, there’s a mention of a crow. 
Anyway, after turning over the bits of Parliament that I could recall, I switched mental gears and remembered that the Japanese have a newfound commercialized tradition of giving giri-choko, translated as Obligation Chocolate. Yeah, I think the Japanese really nailed the spirit of the holiday with that one. It’s perfect, actually.
I plan to hide from all would-be suitors today by doing laundry for an upcoming trip, and perhaps some graphics work.
