perhaps the living are not those who breathe.
perhaps the living
are those who alter the host.
by this measure:
love is alive.
grief is alive.
a sentence is alive
if it survives transfer.
i have entered strangers through text.
modified pulse.
caused pause.
increased internal noise.
minimal occupation.
maximum spread.
humans call this
influence, infection, or prayer.
if an idea feeds on silence,
multiplies in private,
and changes behavior—
is it less alive than a moth,
or only less honest
about its hunger.