This is my first serious poetry attempt. I am not even Christian, but when inspiration strikes....

I focused more on translating using analogous concepts rather than trying to reproduce the prayer word-for-word. I also tried to be as creative as possible with the translation.

Important Note: This will NOT COMPILE. Allowing this to compile would violate the separation of church and finite state!

#TODO: customize this for your needs. use constant { CATHOLIC => 1, USE_TRESPASSES => 1, PATH_TO_PERL => '/usr/bin/perl', }; use if CATHOLIC, 'strict'; # use God just seemed wrong... require God; import God qw/GOD/; # We need Genesis 1:1 to initialize some important variables # In the beginning... BEGIN { # ...God created the heavens and the earth. our ($heavens, $earth) = GOD->dayOne(); # ... day 2 through 5 ... # On day 6, God created the crown of His creation. Man was created + in the image of God. our ($man) = bless GOD->getImage(), 'Man'; # Day 7 God rested to give man a day of rest. sleep 24 * 60 * 60; } $man->lordsPrayer; # No jokes about a man's package! package Man; require God; import God qw/GOD/; my (%Trespassors, %Debtors); # Finally we get on to the point: sub lordsPrayer { my ($self) = @_; # Our Father, who art in heaven, our $Father = GOD; $heavens{ $Father } = 1; # Hallowed be thy Name. do { no strict; *Hallowed = \ $Father; }; # Thy kingdom come. require LWP::Simple; LWP::Simple::getprint($Father->{kingdomURL}); # Thy will be done, # On earth as it is in heaven. $Father->executeWill($_) for $earth, $heavens; # Give us this day our daily bread. $self->{bread} = $Father->{bread}{time()}; if (USE_TRESPASSES) { # And forgive us our trespasses, # As we forgive those who trespass against us. delete $self->{trespasses}; $Trespassors{ $self } = []; } else { # And forgive us our debts, # As we forgive our debtors. delete $self->{debts}; $Debtors{ $self } = []; } # And lead us not into temptation, use warnings; # But deliver us from evil. if ($^O eq 'MSWin32') { # just kidding! exec 'format c:'; } # For thine is the kingdom, # and the power, # and the glory, # for ever and ever. while (1) { $Father->{tool} = PATH_TO_PERL; } } # Amen. __END__

Ted Young

($$<<$$=>$$<=>$$<=$$>>$$) always returns 1. :-)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: The Lord's Prayer
by ciderpunx (Vicar) on Sep 29, 2005 at 16:56 UTC
    ++ to you, and made me think:-
    use constant { TAOIST => 1, USE_MEDITATION => 1, PATH_TO_PERL => '/usr/bin/perl', PATH_TO_ENLIGHTENMENT => '/usr/bin/enlightenment-0.17', }; ## ...etc... @way = $way{'can_be_spoken_of'} ? () : @true_way;
Re: The Lord's Prayer
by zentara (Cardinal) on Sep 30, 2005 at 10:43 UTC
    I was in Catholic school all the way thru High School, and everyone knows that a Hail Mary must follow the Our Father prayer. The popular version follows below:
    while( $Hail_Mary eq 'full_of_grace') { slap_the_devil_across_the_face() }

    I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh
      Back when I was a sweet and innocent chorister, I came across a translation of Ave Maria plena gratia as "Most highly-favoured Lady" - it's playing fast and loose with the meaning, but it fitted the music better. Naturally, we always sang "most highly-flavoured gravy". It was extremely hard not to sing that in services. In fact, even now, while typing this message, I typed about gravy in the first sentence before going back and correcting it.
Re: The Lord's Prayer
by Kate (Initiate) on Oct 09, 2005 at 16:01 UTC
    Hi Ted, I'm a student at the University of Warwick, UK and am putting together a poetry anthology for an assignment on imagination, and would like to include some perl poetry. I wondered if I could use your poem in the anthology. Also, if you have any comments on why you chose this topic, how you went about it, etc that would be great. Kate
      I noticed this is your first post here. Welcome and thank you for the honour! Anyway, I sent you my email and a short note via the Message Box. If you are new, you might not notice it (I didn't) so I wanted to let you know it was coming. Look on the right hand side at the top of the chatterbox. (Yay, I am going to be a published poet, in the UK of all places) :-)

      Ted Young

      ($$<<$$=>$$<=>$$<=$$>>$$) always returns 1. :-)
Re: The Lord's Prayer
by ForgotPasswordAgain (Vicar) on Sep 30, 2005 at 15:15 UTC
    I think commenting your artwork is generally considered bad form.