Empurpled Sands

Almost the very sands confess the ripening influence of the August sun, and with the slender grasses waving over them,
reflect a purple tinge.
The empurpled sands.
Such is the consequence of all this sunshine absorbed into the pores of plants
and of the earth. All
sap or blood is wine-colored.
The very bare sands, methinks, yield
a purple reflection.
At last we have
not only the purple sea,
but the purple land.
--Henry David Thoreau (journal entry for August 29, 1858)

Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris: "I Dug Up A Diamond"