Lyric Poem · Childhood

A Wife—at daybreak I shall be

by Emily Dickinson

A Wife — at daybreak I shall be —

Sunrise — Hast thou a Flag for me?

At Midnight, I am but a Maid,

How short it takes to make a Bride —

Then — Midnight, I have passed from thee

Unto the East, and Victory —

Midnight — Good Night! I hear them call,

The Angels bustle in the Hall —

Softly my Future climbs the Stair,

I fumble at my Childhood's prayer

So soon to be a Child no more —

Eternity, I'm coming — Sire,

Savior — I've seen the face — before!

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“A Wife—at daybreak I shall be” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/a-wife-at-daybreak-i-shall-be

Quick facts

Poem: A Wife—at daybreak I shall be
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 13 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Childhood, Peace

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 13 lines · 2 stanzas of 6–7 lines
Line length: Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBA Wife—at daybreak I shall be by emily-dickinson, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 0a21b588848f430a…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Childhood Peace

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