Prayer of the Selfish Child

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my toys to break…

Shel Silverstein

Prayer on the Run

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my secret keep
And if discovered before I wake
I pray the Lord my death to fake”

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Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the lord, my soul to keep,
Me, my sister, mum and dad,
us four
and no more.

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You can bet on Wikipedians (is that the name for those inhabitants?) taking all this seriously:

“Now I Lay Me” is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway.
The story is about Nick Adams, one of Hemingway’s recurring characters, forcing himself to stay awake at night in an army tent during World War I. He is afraid that if he goes to sleep in the dark his soul will escape him. Nick is experiencing shell-shock from when he was bombed during a night raid. During the raid Nick severely injured his head. From then on he was afraid to go to sleep at night.

See especially  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_I_Lay_Me_Down_to_Sleep” target=”_blank”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_I_Lay_Me_Down_to_Sleep

In case you really wanted to know, this little prayer features in Metallica’s famous song ‘Enter Sandman’, Megadeth’s song ‘Go to Hell’, rapper Seagram’s song ‘Peace To You’, Snoop Dogg’s ‘Murder Was the Case’, The Notorious B.I.G’s (rapper) song Ready to Die, Phish’s song, “Dog Stole Things” and also Kid Cudi’s song ‘The Prayer”. Variations of the prayer have also appeared in many other songs by various artists, including American artist Sophie B. Hawkins’ As I Lay Me Down, the Finnish band HIM’s song ‘Buried Alive By Love’, Aloe Blacc’s song Take Me Back, Cheryl Cole’s song Promise This and Tupac Shakur’s posthumous song, When Thugs Cry and OPM’s song Heaven Is A Halfpipe. It is also featured in the Horror movie “The Haunting in Connecticut.”