Alice: An Adultery

CALIFORNIA Forged by God’s fingers in His furnace, Fate, My destiny drew near the glowing shore Where California hides her golden ore, Her rubies and her beryls ;    (I) Manifold fruits and flowers alike create Glories most unimaginable, more Than Heaven’s own meadows match ; yet this is sore, A stain ; not one of these is delicate. Save only the clear green within the sea— Because that rolls all landless from Japan. I did not know until I missed it here How beautiful that beauty is to me, That life that bears Death’s sigil traced too clear, Blue lines within the beauty that is man. (I) Line 4 cannot with any certainty be deciphered. 13