This song appears on five albums - plus twice with a reprise and a duet on the album of the same title. It was first released on The Flower That Shattered the Stone album. It has been released on the Stonehaven Sunrise, A Portrait and The John Denver Collection - Calypso albums.


The Earth is our mother just turning around
With her trees in the forest and roots underground
Our father above us who’s sigh is the wind
Paint us a rainbow without any end

As the river runs freely the mountain does rise
Let me touch with my fingers and see with my eyes
In the hearts of the children of pure love still roams
Like a bright star in heaven that lights our way home
Like the flower that shattered the stone

Sparrows find freedom beholding the sun
In the infinite beauty we’re all joined in one
I reach out before me and look to the sky
Then I hear someone whisper it’s something pass by

As the river runs freely the mountain does rise
Let me touch with my fingers and see with my eyes
In the hearts of the children of pure love still roams
Like a bright star in heaven that lights our way home
Like the flower that shattered the stone
Like a bright star in heaven that lights our way home
Like the flower that shattered the stone

Words and Music by Joe Henry and John Jarvis
Corrected by "A. Elizabeth Hawley" <ahawley@gustavus.edu>