Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer / utters itself.
This first sentence states the speaker's general stance, which they will spend the rest of the poem defending and demonstrating. Here, they make two broad points. The first is that people may try to pray and engage with organized religion but find themselves unable to do so. The second is that, despite this inability, prayer and spirituality manifest in unexpected and even effortless ways. This first line uses simple, declarative language, establishing a conversational relationship between speaker and reader. At the same time, the use of the word "we" establishes that the speaker is addressing a universal problem, perhaps one shared by the reader as well.
a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth / in the distant Latin chanting of a train.
Here, the speaker describes a moment in which a symbol of modernity and industrialization, the train, serves as a reminder of organized religious custom—namely, the Latin prayer of a Catholic mass. While the example prior to this one describes a woman seeking spiritual fulfillment in nature, this example is a departure, describing the fulfillment found in an object not traditionally thought of as fodder for poetry. This example suggests that modernity is no more hostile to religious feeling than any other era. Meanwhile, the phrase "the distant Latin chanting of a train" blurs the boundaries between the man's memories of religion and the sound of the train itself, hinting that the train's sound has an innate beauty or significance independently of the man's associations.
Inside, the radio's prayer — / Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.
After introducing the poem's central argument, the speaker provides a series of examples. We can think of these examples as anecdotal evidence, used to support an idea that the speaker cares urgently about—the idea that a kind of secular prayer can show up in unexpected contexts. However, this final line of the poem doesn't so much support the poem's central idea as it does demonstrate it, turning readers themselves into the sonnet's final character. By repeating the words being said on the radio, rather than simply describing the contents or sound of the radio broadcast, Duffy subjects her readers to the meditative power of the words. Therefore, they undergo the experience of secular prayer themselves.
