There Is a Shiver Inside Me

INTRO:

Some things are never fully understood until you live inside them.

By Vincent R. Pozon

She would touch my face
so I would know how cold
her hands had become.

I would hold the fingers
of both hands between mine,
warm them, kiss each one

The blanket was thick, drawn
all the way to her cheeks.
I was her blanket.

"There is a shiver inside me."
I should have recognized it.
This is what the medicine does.

Unlike her, I have to learn
to be sick alone, nod knowing
when the cold greets me.