Lyric Poem · Childhood

As Children bid the Guest "Good Night"

by Emily Dickinson

And then reluctant turn —

My flowers raise their pretty lips —

Then put their nightgowns on.

As children caper when they wake

Merry that it is Morn —

My flowers from a hundred cribs

Will peep, and prance again.

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“As Children bid the Guest "Good Night"” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/as-children-bid-the-guest-good-night

Quick facts

Poem: As Children bid the Guest "Good Night"
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 8 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Childhood, Nature, Short

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: 8 lines · 2 quatrains
Line length: Common metre. Alternating eight- and six-syllable lines — the hymn stanza (8.6.8.6), the most-used quatrain in English verse.

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Text, source & rights

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Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBAs Children bid the Guest "Good Night" 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 16e53f523bd56745…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Childhood Nature Short

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