A Sincere Prayer

The Dog And The Wolf, XVI, 3.

Dahut's siren singing lures a ship's crew towards the rocks near Ys. Gratillonius intervenes and saves the men except Amreth who dives overboard. Gratillonius offers a sincere prayer:

"Christ, if it was You Who stood by us, thank You. I wish I could honestly say more than that. Maybe later. I'm so tired, so wet, so wrung. All I want to do is crawl off and sleep. If I can. Maybe first, once I'm alone, I'll weep. Forgive me, if You please, when I don't weep for those we lost fighting in the islands or for Amreth my friend, but for Dahut." (p. 326)

I think that this prayer should be acceptable to any deity. Gratillonius acknowledges that he is unsure Whom he should address but nevertheless is genuinely grateful and also acknowledges his own physical and moral limitations. He leaves open the possibility of being able to say more later. 

Not everyone can make the prayer of monotheist faith but many of us can utter a pagan or agnostic prayer. I suggest the following formula:

"To Whom it may concern,

"To whatever gods may be,

"To Indra, Agni and Vayu..."

Indra was the chief god of the Vedic pantheon, would have been known as such by Gautama who became Buddha and is mentioned in Buddhist texts. In Kena Upanishad, Agni, Vayu and Indra first knew that Brahman was the Spirit Supreme. And all of this is obviously mythology, not literal truth!