When is a Thing a Living Thing?

If a thing is living it will move

however far or fast or slight,

a falcon swooping on a shrew,

the turning of a leaf to light.

 

All living things can reproduce,

remake themselves as young and new,

the growing of a rose from seed,

your mother giving birth to you.

 

A living thing must feed or die

so bats go hunting moths at night,

sheep must graze and insects nibble

and green plants conjure food from light.

 

And life means growth, things getting bigger,

from tiny sapling to enormous tree,

from foal to horse, from calf to cow,

you, from what you are to what you'll be.