love is a magnetism

that enables two people

to see one another as

no one else can see them,

a compelling unresisting element

drawing them into each other’s arms.

love is an unselfish devotion,

giving service without reward,

sacrifice without compensation,

suffering without alleviation.

it is a power, a force,

the fundamental principle of life,

without which, the mere act of living

becomes a farce and a mockery.

love is the foundation of every

unselfish act, in this grey old world.

it is the rosy amber hearthstone

of earth’s flaming paradise, and

a stepping stone to a better world called heaven.