About This Text
From the Homeric Hymns. Composed in the same meter as the Iliad and the Odyssey, the set of thirty-four poems addressed to the gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon were in antiquity attributed to Homer.
c.
600 BC | Greece
Mother of the Gods
Honoring the ultimate provider.
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 in 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 give life to mortals
and who take life away.
Blessed is the one you honor with a willing heart.
He who has this has everything.
His fields thicken with life-giving corn,
his cattle grow heavy in the pastures,
his house brims over with good things.
The men are masters of their city,
the laws are just,
the women are fair,
great riches and fortune follow them.
Their sons delight in the ecstasy of youth,
their daughters play
in dances garlanded with flowers,
they skip happily on the grass
over soft flowers.
It was you who honored them,
sacred goddess, generous spirit.
Farewell, mother of the gods,
bride of starry Heaven.
