# Children's prayer / poem - whodunit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 13, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-prayer-poem-whodunit/326030 "2005-10-13T04:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anamarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@anamarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anamarie)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-prayer-poem-whodunit/326030/1 "2005-10-13T04:30:06Z")
šŸ˜• The familiar poem which goes ā€œā€¦If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to takeā€? I know it is a shortened version of the original poem which begins ā€œMatthew, Mark, Luke and John, bless the bed that I lie onā€¦ā€, the author is anonymous / unknown. Where and when did this originate? More intriguingly, is there anything out there that identifies the author by name? If so, who was he - or she? Please answer - my friend insists that anonymous and unknown are two different persons :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-prayer-poem-whodunit/326030/2 "2005-10-13T04:40:39Z")
**Moderatorā€™s Note:** Duplicate of [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=339541). ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-prayer-poem-whodunit/326030/3 "2005-10-13T04:42:49Z")
This question appears to have a real, (if, perhaps, unidentifiable), answer. We are not going to debate it (I hope), so Iā€™m sending it to **General Questions** in the hope of a factual answer, [/Moderator Mode]