Our Father, bless this distressed land,
Forgive our sins I pray.
Let us be delivered by Thy hand,
Turn death’s destruction away;
Mothers and wives with broken hearts,
Are praying for peace to come.
Rebuke Satan and his fiery darts,
Please send our boys back home.
Oh, Father, stir your ministers to pray!
You gave to them the keys;
Lead them to that old way,
Humble repentance on their knees.
Bless the fields with harvest green,
The fowl, the birds and the flock,
Turn away the devourer that would destroy these,
Time our praying clock.
Bless the rulers of the law;
The children in the land.
Break the bands, lock the lion’s jaw;
We will obey your commands. Amen.

Elizabeth J. Dabney in Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans by James Melvin Washington