I prayed, at first, a little Girl

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



I prayed, at first, a little Girl,
Because they told me to—
But stopped, when qualified to guess
How prayer would feel—to me—

If I believed God looked around,
Each time my Childish eye
Fixed full, and steady, on his own
In Childish honesty—

And told him what I'd like, today,
And parts of his far plan
That baffled me—
The mingled side
Of his Divinity—

And often since, in Danger,
I count the force 'twould be
To have a God so strong as that
To hold my life for me

Till I could take the Balance
That tips so frequent, now,
It takes me all the while to poise—
And then—it doesn't stay—

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

35 sec read
197

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXA XXXA BXAXA XAXA XXXB
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 590
Words 116
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 5, 4, 4

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

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