life pops in and sits a while

     sharing a cup of enchantment and woe

     porch swings and cracked windows

     open doors and unhinged wooden doors

     antiquated locks and furrowed brows

life pops in and sits a while

     pockets brimmed with why not’s

     overflowing possibilities

     roots struggling to reach soil

     images dancing on eyelids

life pops in and sits a while

     dawn’s light beamed on skin

     thawed feelings of ice melting

     clenched fists and open hearts

     feast and famine – cupboard bare

life pops in and sits a while

     rain gorged sadness leaving creases

     metallic storms clanging to earth

     black and white photos without images

     splashed mud and fractured timbers

life pops in and sits a while

     suitcases of chances open wide

     prismatic sunshine on dappled paths

     freckled clouds mirrored on sea

     white butterflies lighting on souls.

Life is a series of goods and bads, rights and wrongs, all of which can positively or negatively affect your overall outlook on it.

Life is something we can overthink when we're laying in the grass and staring up at the stars on a dark summer night, 

And something we can underthink when we're at a party with our friends, or at least when we're pretending to be okay for just a little while. 

Life is something we can squeeze the meaning out of or leave it be,

It can be left whole or cut into pieces, 

It can explode when you're least expecting it.

Life is something you can give and take away.

Take a walk in a forest, along the shore, or in the mountains. Pick up the smallest stone, hold it in your hand, and truly study it. Realize it has been here long before you or I came along and will be here long after we are gone. We are nothing more than visitors here but for a brief moment. We are a minute particle in a vast organism that has the dangerous ability to upset the balance of the rest. Life tolerates us but it is running out of patience. 

Life is like beauty- it is in the eye of the beholder.

Life is also like obscenity you will know it when you see it.

Most scientific definitions of biological life include the ability to metabolize matter to energy, the ability to grow, the ability to reproduce, the ability to respond to stimuli. From that definition, fire is alive. Fire breaks down combustible materials, it grows and spreads, and can send sparks out making new fires. Fire responds to wind, water, and to Firemen.

So, to specifically eliminate fire, the concept of cellular structure is added. That then eliminates viruses and prions as being alive.

To include Artificial Intelligence as being alive, some include self-awareness as a criteria; but that excludes almost all plants and animals.

I'd say life takes action. Life is that which is dependent on its environment but also changes the environment around it to make it more suitable for it. The first single-celled organisms processed our primitive atmosphere, filling it with carbon dioxide. Then plants evolved, and changed the carbon dioxide to oxygen. Then animals evolved, to process oxygen and create carbon dioxide, and hopefully maintain a balance.

Life altered the atmosphere, and the Earth, to make it suited for life.