A PRAYER BEFORE BIRTH

The original poem titled "Prayer Before Birth" has been written by
 Louis MacNeice

I am not yet born; O listen me

Let not the black bear or the wicked wolf attack me

Let not the black waters roll me

Let not the sharp pointy rains fall in three.

I am not yet born; give solace to me

I shall have no brains to understand

What’s white, what’s black

And amidst all this, yet I fear

that people with plumpy face might attack

to tackle treasons, use the Union Jack.

I am not yet born; deprive me

of the stuttering rifle’s rapid rattle

of the secret convulsive sobs, remorsefulness

and  all those which will hurdle my battle.

I am not yet born; protect me

from the tall rising vultures

from the rivers of concrete

the spurious and malleable

that everyone would preach.

I am not yet born; understand me

for I would not be responsible

for the millions of death caused by me

for those who are killed in an instant

as if pressed by a Gargantua’s  feat

I am not yet born; provide me

with crowd  to listen me

with power to portray my inner gracious part

with knowledge to stop the bad

with strength to break the wall apart.

I am not yet born; O listen me

make me not the weapon

in hands of others

otherwise kill me.