love struck

Love is a constellation of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness.[1] The meaning of love varies relative to context. Romantic love is seen as an ineffable feeling of intense attraction shared in passionate or intimate attraction and intimate interpersonal and sexual relationships.[2] Though often linked to personal relations, love is often given a wider connection, a love of humanity, of nature, with life itself, or a oneness with the universe, a universal love or karma. Love can also be construed as Platonic love,[3] religious love,[4] familial love, and, more casually, great affection for anything considered strongly pleasurable, desirable, or preferred, to include activities and foods.[5][2] This diverse range of meanings in the singular word love is often contrasted with the plurality of Greek words for love, reflecting the concept's depth, versatility, and complexity.

In a recent short story I wrote, a writer is told by a young critic that he doesn't understand love. "It's neither noble nor eternal, as you would have your audience believe," she says.
"Nobody understands love," the writer admits. "It seems to be Universal. Timeless. Yet, it's also very individual, filtered by our own lives and expectations. I don't understand love, and can't understand love, because it's a different thing for each of us."
These love poems are Universal. Timeless. And yet very much a different thing for each of us. We hope you enjoy them...