NIGHT ON OUR EARTH (NATT ÖVER JORDEN)
At night, as the world falls quiet, our hearing sharpens. Our song and speech become gentler, a little softer, attuned to the hush:
Night on our earth now has fallen.
Shimmering starlight sheen! …
I originally composed this piece for children’s choir. It begins with a simple tune sung in canon. Then a lower part enters, a swaying ostinato. It repeats over and over.
Fallen, night now has fallen …
Night, stars, darkness, depth: such beautiful, suggestive words about our reality and the voyage we are on together through the universe.
Texts:
Nu är det natt över jorden.
Darrande stjärna, gläns!
Världarna vandra så fjärran.
Mörkret är utan gräns.
Marken och mullen och mörkret,
varför älskar jag dem?
– Stjärnorna vandra så fjärran.
Jorden är människans hem
Erik Blomberg
Night on our earth now has fallen.
Shimmering starlight sheen!
Our small worlds wander so distant.
Darkness so endless seems.
Darkness and depth and the dusk hour,
why, why do I love them?
Though the stars wander so distant.
Earth is still our human home.
(English translation Linda Schenck)
