The GreenLand’s Prayer*

Tags: Mojisola Adebayo

Give us this day our daily seal
And forgive us our footprints
As we forgive those who tread against us
And lead us not into pollution
But deliver us from petrol
For ours is the past, the present and the future
For ever and ever
Awomen

*One of our Greenlandic guides Ludvig informed us that when the Europeans brought Christianity to Greenland they quickly realised that the idea of ‘daily bread’ meant nothing to them, as the Inuit people’s diet was entirely meat and fish. Therefore they translated the Lord’s Prayer as ‘Give us this day our daily seal’. The remainder of the prayer is also written for our times.

An Arctic Poem (still in progress) by Mojisola Adebayo