A Hymn to The Earth

High Truth, unyielding Order, Consecration, Ardor and Prayer and Holy Ritual uphold the Earth, may she, the ruling Mistress of what has been and what will come to be, for us spread wide a limitless domain.

Untrammeled in the midst of men, the Earth, adorned with heights and gentle slopes and plains, bears plants and herbs of various healing powers. May she spread wide for us, afford us joy!

On whom are ocean, river, and all waters, on whom have sprung up food and plowman's crops, on whom moves all that breathes and stirs abroad - Earth, may she grant to us the long first draught!

Bearer of all things, hoard of treasures rare, sustaining mother, Earth the golden-breasted who bears the Sacred Universal Fire, whose spouse is Indra - may she grant us wealth!

On whom the flowing Waters, ever the same, course without cease or failure night and day, may she yield milk, this Earth of many streams, and shed on us her splendor copiously!

Your hills, O Earth, your snow-clad mountain peaks, your forests, may they show us kindliness! Brown, black, red, multifarious in hue and solid is this vast Earth, guarded by Indra. Invincible, unconquered, and unharmed, I have on her established my abode.

Impart to us those vitalizing forces that come, O Earth, from deep within your body, your central point, your navel, purify us wholly. The Earth is mother; I am son of Earth. The Rain-giver is my father; may he shower on us blessings!

All creatures, born from you, move round upon you. You carry all that has two legs, three, or four. To you, O Earth, belong the five human races, those mortals upon whom the rising sun sheds the immortal splendor of his rays.

Mother of plants and begetter of all things, firm far-flung Earth, sustained by Heavenly Law, kindly and pleasant is she. May we ever dwell on her bosom, passing to and fro!...

As wide a vista of you as my eye may scan, O Earth, with the kindly help of Sun, so widely may my sight be never dimmed in all the long parade of years to come!

Whether, when I repose on you, O Earth, I turn upon my Right side or my left, or whether, extended flat upon my back, I meet your pressure from head to foot, be gentle, Earth! You are the couch of all!

Your circling seasons, nights succeeding days, your summer, O Earth, your splashing rains, your autumn, your winter and frosty season yielding to spring--- may each and all produce for us their milk!...

She carries in her lap the foolish and also the wise. She bears the death of the wicked as well as the good. She lives in friendly collaboration with the boar, offering herself as sanctuary to the wild pig....

The Maker of the world sought her with oblations when she was shrouded in the depth of the ocean. A vessel of gladness, long cherished in secret, the earth was revealed to mankind for their joy.

Primeval Mother, disperser of men, you, far-flung Earth, fulfill all our desires. Whatever you lack, may the Lord of creatures, the First-born of Right, supply to you fully!

From the Atharva Veda (possibly of pre-aryan India)

Dedicated to Alan and his earth conscious heart