Placerville
(Sesquicentennial in perspective)
After the temblor the strata settle
What was gold-dust in a slowing stream
Falls from that suspended gleam
Into solidities of lode-metal.
Shock, aftershock--over in days,
Consolidation of gold--eons:
But on our conceptual screens
Time knows its place.
In ten minutes a couple buys
At the store where such are sold
A ring struck from that gold
Engraved “Eternity.”
