The Bus Driver’s Prayer – Anonymous, UK
Our Farnham, who art in Hendon, Harrow be Thy name. Thy
Kingston come; thy Wimbledon, In Erith as it is in Hendon. Give us this day our
daily Brent And forgive us our Westminster As we forgive those who Westminster
against us. And lead us not into Thames Ditton But deliver us from Yeovil For
Thine is the Kingston, the Purley and the Crawley For Esher and Esher, Crouch
End.
As Recited on Radio Cuba - Apolinar Hernandez*
Our Father, who is Fidel, who is with us sinners, free us
from the power of Pontius Pilate, who is Lyndon Johnson, and from imperialism.
Viva Communism, viva Fidel; he is in the fore, and we behind him. We must
always be at his side. Amen.
Distributed in West German Protestant Churches by Leftist
Students (1968)*
Our capital, which art in the West, amortized be thy investments; Thy
profits come, Thy interest rise, in Wall Street as it does in Europe;
Give us this day our turnover, and extend to us our credit, As we extend it to our debtors; Lead us not into bankruptcy, But deliver us from trade
unions, For thine is half the world, The power and riches for the last 200
years. Mammon.
Give us this day our daily bread at least three times a day and lead
us not into temptation too often on weekdays but deliver us from evil,
whose presence remains unexplained in thy Kingdom of
Power and Glory, oh man.
Our Father, which art in Heaven, yes, so infinitely far away
that no one knows where You are, almost nowhere, give us this day just a few
crumbs to eat in the name of Thy Glory and forgive us if we can’t pay the
dealer and our creditors and let us not, above all, be tempted to be happy, for
Thine is the Kingdom…
And I recited the pretty quietist Pater, Our Father who art
no more in heaven than on earth or in hell, I neither want nor desire that thy
name be hallowed, thou knowest best what suits thee. Etc. The middle and the
end are very pretty.
Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was
nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada. Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name
thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada
our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into
nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing
is with thee.
* Bitter Parody, Time Magazine, February 1968 ([http://www.time.com