AFTERMATH (1945)

All this is ended now. It is over and done,
The vigil, the waiting for news, the counting of days.
Now you may walk securely beneath the sun,
You may read, or sew, or dream in a still haze.

The nerves will slacken at length, their tension spent.
You will wonder what to do with limitless time
Now horror is ended, thankfully content
To juggle with words, to search for the apt rhyme.

But not for long. Not forever may one endure
The numbing of heart and sense by a sick shame.
You have lived these days, You will never be wholly sure
Of peace, or breath, or the sound of your own name.

-Henriette de S. Blanding

Plate from Berkeley Poetry Walk

More details can be found here Click for the item in The ultimate street signs site