The Purple Earth

for my beloved 

Before there was enough oxygen for animals like you 

and me to breathe, the world was dimmed in a thin scrim 

of CO2 and methane - but that was then. And then, 

hypothesize the scientists, the plants, in ages we never knew, 

empurpled the world. Some would probably prefer to populate 

such a planet - a world with a hue royal and rare, 

but since leaving this one will be the death of me, I’ll stay 

here at the red edge with you, and luxuriate in the waste 

of oxygen in my every breath.