Bioluminescent Quotes

“I believed that the woods were not tenantless, but choke-full of honest spirits as good as myself any day– not an empty chamber in which chemistry was left to work alone, but an inhabited house. It suggested, too, that the same experience always gives birth to the same sort of belief or religion. One revelation has been made to the Indian, another to the white man. I have much to learn of the Indian, nothing of the missionary. I am not sure but all that would tempt me to teach the Indian my religion would be his promise to teach me his. Long enough I had heard of irrelevant things; now at length I was glad to make acquaintance with the light that dwells in rotten wood.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Canoeing in the Wilderness

“Emma counts down to three, and as soon as we splash into the water, it comes alive. Millions of white lights sparkle. They radiate out like a shockwave, tiny brilliant explosions like nothing I've ever seen. Emma is stomping onward, a path of light in her wake. I follow along, but I go slower, not wanting to take the next step until the last one has subsided, afraid that the magic will run out. It's like lightning underwater, like microscopic fireflies raging in sync. When the water calms back to darkness, I lean over, run my hand through the water. The lights follow suit, like it's my skin that's charged and not the water.
I hear Emma's stomping and near-maniacal laughter get closer. "What is this?" I ask, my face only a few inches away from the water. I hadn't even noticed how warm the lake is, how soaked through my jeans are. I swirl my fingers across the surface, enchanted.
"This is nature being ridiculous," Emma says. "Bioluminescent plankton. Like swimming in fireworks.”
― Adi Alsaid, North of Happy

“In the antechamber, moss had anchored itself over the windows, completely blocking out the sunlight. Delilah and I should have been cast in total darkness. Yet, the room wasn’t dark— at least not entirely.
To my right, yellow-veined crotons glowed with pulsing neon light.
To my left, spiky dracaena emitted a purple phosphorescence.
All around me, the recurved leathery leaves of ponytail palms radiated yellow-green as their panicles of flowers shone bright with incandescence.
Of course, I’d read about plants that did this. In labs, botanists had inserted genes from bioluminescent mushrooms into petunias so that they glowed like fireflies. However, bioluminescent plants weren’t supposed to exist in Nature. Yet all around me, their luscious leaves and fringed flowers radiated hazy light.”
― Jennifer Herrera, Siren Says