Thursday, April 17, 2014

Earth Day 2014



Gaia, mother of all,
I shall sing,
the strong foundation, the oldest one.
She feeds everything in the world.
Whoever walks upon her sacred ground,
or moves through the sea,
or flies through the air, it is she
who nourishes them from her treasure-store.

Queen of Earth, through you
beautiful children
beautiful harvests,
come.

It is you who gives life to mortals,
and who takes life away.
Blessed is the One you honour with a willing heart.
One who has this has everything.

Their fields thicken with life-giving corn,
their cattle grow heavy in the pastures,
her house brims over with good things.*

It is you who honoured them,
sacred goddess, generous spirit.
Farewell mother of the gods,
bride of starry Heaven.

For my song, allow me a life
my heart loves.
Homeric Hymn to Gaia XXX, translated by Jules Cashford.



* The original pronoun was, of course, "he".  I changed it to remember that not all Beings of the Earth are "he".  I suspect Gaia, in all Her magnificent diversity,  would approve.

1 comment:

Trish and Rob MacGregor said...

Beautiful. Not much to add to that.