"I am not yet born"
This line introduces every stanza except the final one, reiterating to the reader that this "prayer" is coming from an entity that is as yet nonexistent on earth. On one hand, the repetition of this phrase invokes a sense of innocence, associating the speaker with an unborn child. On the other hand, however, the speaker does not speak innocently; in fact, they are well aware of the society that awaits them and are critical of how that society operates. Paradoxically, it is the speaker's "unborn" and presumably innocent nature that allows them this outside perspective on humanity.
"...forgive me / For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words / when they speak me, my thoughts when they think me, / my treason engendered by traitors beyond me, / my life when they murder by means of my / hands, my death when they live me."
In this stanza, the speaker is asking for forgiveness for the iniquities that they have not committed yet. The speaker is affirming their purity before the world tarnishes and corrupts them. These lines also showcase the speaker's belief that maintaining one's innocence in the present world is impossible; the speaker suggests that they will be powerless against words, thoughts, and actions, thereby depriving them of any autonomy or agency.
"Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me. / Otherwise kill me."
The last stanza presents two sides of society's spectrum in the present: the world either takes away your humanity turning one into stone, or takes away free will condemning one to liquid. Either way, the speaker argues that people are left without choice and without power. This fate – which the speaker sees as inevitable, and against which they pray for protection – is less desirable than being spared while one is still innocent and pure.
