Tevun-Krus #31 - Dying Earth

@katerauner's By the Power of Fusion We'll Fly

Microbe Massacre, by katerauner

The Great Permian Dying,

A quarter billion years ago,

Ended life's early phase

And heralded the Meso.

Nine in ten creations died,

Earth almost lost her soul.

Not land nor sea protected them,

Life slipped from her foothold.

Attacks by hostile aliens?

Or pounded by bolides?

Did flares upon the Sun explode?

Or cosmic rays collide?

The villain was a microbe

That dwelt peacefully for years,

Till fertilized by Vulcan's dust,

As sediments make clear.

A mindless little bug,

Meth-ano-sar-ci-na,

Bloomed down a strange and new

Metabolic pathway.

So if you think you rule the world today,

Have dominion over all,

Consider other kingdoms

Barely survived The Fall.

Earth almost lost her skin of life

When nickel from volcanoes,

Fertilized the oceans

For methane belching microbes.

Earth's biosphere then faltered

After such a hopeful start.

Four billion years' evolving

Near destroyed by bugs that fart.