Life

Can life be known
Directly —
First-hand

Like I can know a cup —
By holding it
Looking at it
Feeling it
Knocking it
Measuring and comparing it
With another cup —
Or a plate

Can I know life
Directly
Objectively

I can’t look at life
Whatever I look at
Is not life

It may be a tree
A bee
Or a person —

But what is it
That I call
Life — or living
Can I know that

I can’t

For there is nothing to hold
Feel, touch, or measure —
Nothing to compare it with

Isn’t that a strange thing —
That I have no idea
What it is
That I call life —
And yet

I live as if
I have a life

I speak of
Having a life
And forever am seeking
To preserve it
Improve it
Make it better
And not lose it

Could it be
That I don’t have life —
And I am it
Itself

And if so
Then I don’t live life —
Life lives itself
Is itself

And there is none
But it
That does whatever
Is done

Right now
I may think
That I am living
A life —

And may plan, pursue
Try to make better
How I am living
What I am doing —

But

Right now
Life is already
Fully and completely
Itself

And neither it
Nor an I
Are anywhere
To be found