Earth Of Ours

The Earth - Our one and only home.

Our Earth

In my opinion the Welsh hymn tune "Blaenwern" is one of the the greatest of all the tunes in the British canon. It was written by William Penfro Rowlands (1860–1937), during the Welsh revival of 1904–1905. It has been set to a number of religious lyrics, most notably to "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" and most inappropriately to "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".

I sought a suitable subject for this majestic and powerful song and could find nothing more important than the link we have with our mother Earth. The Earth gave birth to us and to everything else that we see. Without her we are lost. It may be that in the future we may be able to colonise various other places in our solar system and a few people there may be able to eke out a living encased in protective bubbles, caves and suits which hold at bay the deadly cold, vacuum and high energy particles of space. Yes, perhaps some of us may be able to live in such prisons, reproduce and propagate some form of human culture but they will not be able to laze naked on a tropical beach, ski the breathtaking slopes of the Alps, stroll through the awesome temperate rainforests or commune with the native fauna and flora of a marginal desert.

I am a fan of the concept of the colonisation of space but there is no real substitute for the Earth in our solar system. Other stars may perhaps offer planets as hospitable and lovely as our Earth but they are too far away to be colonised in the foreseable future with current technology. How many people realise that to reach the nearest stars with present rockets would take 100,000 years?

No! People. There is no alternative home for us in the foreseable future. Our Earth is our one and only home. If we kill it we kill ourselves. We MUST preserve it! And not just at a minimal level. We should preserve it at an optimal level! Not just optimal for us but for all the other species of flora and fauna that have evolved alongside us here.

Words: Warren Mars: 2013-2016
Music: William Penfro Rowlands "Blaenwern" 1904

Earth of ours, how great is they beauty?
Sparkling beaches and majestic trees,
Fertile plains and quiet deserts,
Soaring mountains and roaring seas.
Tour thy planet, rejoice in thy mother:
Walking the land and breathing free.
Cheering dawns and radiant sunsets,
Nowhere outside is as precious as thee.

Earth of ours, how much do we owe thee?
All that we are has come from thee.
For billions of years this great ecosystem,
Evolved the profusion of all that we see.
Here we belong in this world we were born to.
Here where we have our own place in the stream.
With flora and fauna that grew up beside us,
Here in the bosom of Arda's great scheme.

Earth of ours, how much do we need thee?
Staples of life we take from thee.
If thou shouldst die, then we must die also;
Other planets are not as thee.
We must protect the air and the oceans,
Nurture the planet that gave us birth.
Only if we care for our mother,
Can we expect to find heaven on Earth.

The vocal score with chords is provided here.
I have also provided an SATB arrangement for choirs here.

Finally, I have provided a recording of my computer synthesizer playing the SATB arrangement. There is no singing and the synthesizer is very ordinary. Nevertheless the parts are all there and one can sing along with it or use it get an idea of how it should sound with your choir.