Aftershock Poem by Arthur H Rowley

On the good days
I tell my mother I love her and she knows it to be true
I look the boy in the eyes and smile
and when he asks what's funnysay
‘I just like you'
and the weather doesn't matter because all the trees move in a way that straightens my spine
and draws breath into my lungs
my hands still shake, but the nail beds are no longer being bitten raw
and the vibration of my skin
seems to pulse a rhythm deep into the earth
that reads
‘yes I am still here, and I still cannot keep still'
beneath the roots and bones and shards of starlight
and without anyone to hear it
the world responds
‘I know, I feel it too, I haven't stopped shaking either'