What does "nada y pues nada" mean in Ernest Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"?

Question

I am not looking for a direct translation, but rather how this passage fits into the story as a whole.

It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada. Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.

What does this passage mean?

Answer 1

It translates to

nothing and then nothing and nothing and then nothing.

In his depressed mood, he feels that everything is nothing. This is the diagnosis that leads to his parody prayer.

Answer 2

What does this passage mean?

It is more or less literally the Lord's prayer,

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

with some substitutions. In other words, a profound blasphemy. This is pretty much how the older waiter feels.