[CA]
I saw the fault lines in our common ground,
But wavered—loath to estimate the force
And timing of the tremors they foretold;
Why test this fragile paradise we’d found,
Perhaps provoking nature’s wildest course—
Or dig for rifts when random knolls gleam gold?
I never yet have walked a tract of earth
Without a flaw: some harbor muck below
That muddles building; some hide barren soil
Plowed far too long to nurture crops of worth;
And some lie cold, inhumed beneath the snow.
Small faults should make no solid heart recoil,
But you would probe our playg