Close to the Sun - March 20 2024

 

Close to the Sun

March 20 2024

They’ve made plants that glow.

Hijacked

their genetic machinery

to give off light.

I can certainly see

the pleasing symmetry in this;

like a closing of the circle

they feed on light

and in turn give it back.

Yet it somehow seems unholy;

bending nature

to our frivolous ends,

enhancing plants

so they still serve our purpose

even in the dark.

But is this really beauty

or mere curiosity,

an oddity

for the jaded and bored

who need even more sensation

to feel at all?

And what then happens

when the novelty wears off?

Like human clones

and artificial intelligence,

is it science

doing what can be done

just because,

whatever the consequence?

So I begin to wonder,

are we Promethean gods

bringing fire and light,

or mere men

flying too close to the sun?

My petunias

glow in the dark,

an eerie green

that seems extra-terrestrial.

As if we’ve let ourselves become

so distanced from nature

we’re no longer us.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/03/glowing-houseplant-petunia-lightbio/677801/