Love at first sight!

By Jing Villamil

 

FERVENTLY, I believe that people tend to be in the right mood to fall in love at first sight mostly when the weather is fine, the sky is blue with Cirrus strands stretching lazily across its face, gentle wind stirring now and then to puff the heat away, to tousle your hair. And colors peeping, teasing, bursting singly or in clusters here and there, everywhere!

Alagar ka, wadya la! From out of the crowd, “The One” detaches his neat self. You look into his eyes, he looks into your eyes, and . . . Gala, ading! Your heart goes Kabong! It dips, it dives, it soars, it flips! Ay, anggapo la ya!

On the other hand, you would hardly be in the position to fall in love when a super typhoon is trying with all its might to whip, to whisk away your roof your walls your floor and, of course, you. The waters keep on rising and everything familiar and dear is churning monochromatic gray and black and quickly disappearing a cubic a minute. Your heart will definitely not do a Kabong! for him who is fast floating by just within your arm’s reach, your disintegrating past and present rushing away with him, even if he were The One, even if he were stripped naked . . . if his arms were clutching not you but round tight to a tree limb, his mouth screeching Saklolo! Saklolo! so much louder and more girly shrill than your womanly scream!

Kidding aside and seriously speaking now. Though we had read of it, had seen it on screen, or had heard it actually happily but sometimes calamitously happening to people close to us . . . many of us are skeptics, cynics, non-believers of this mystery as best described by Roberta Flack. Take it away, Berta! “The first time ever I saw your face / I thought the sun rose in your eyes / And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave / To the dark and the endless skies.”

How could it be possible that you meet at last, or catch just a tiny winky glimpse of a person for the very first time and suddenly you are cross-eyed, wall-eyed, blinded by the wondrous sight! You breathe fast, like a mile a minute, or you stop breathing and promptly execute a cardiac arrest! You clutch your chest, but still you cannot keep your heart from vaulting free and bounding clear to the other person’s feet, tounging love-liness meanwhile slobbering blood all over from detached aorta, arteries, veins? Na-ah, that is simply not possible, impossible even.

Antoy imbangat nen amam, inam? Never ever trust strangers. And here you are, kanenengneng mo labat, you are hopelessly falling in love with the strangest of them. The person could be a terrorist, rapist, serial killer, budol-budol gang member, or all of the above unpalatables.

And ten seconds after the first time ever I saw your face, you are dreaming of going the next step further, of doing the next Roberta Flack verse: “the first time ever I kissed your mouth / I felt the earth move!” And another ten seconds later, you are contemplating: “the first time ever I lay with you / I felt your heart close to mine / And I knew our joy.”

Ay, anggapo la, ina, ama, lola tan lolo, kabarangayan, kaabay kon inaro. Akibatik ka met la amo?

 

(AUTHOR’S NOTE: To escape the inescapable, to lend small laughter to what is unlaughable, I revised this 2013 article.)

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