Lyric Poem · Peace
I prayed, at first, a little Girl
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 —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“I prayed, at first, a little Girl” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/i-prayed-at-first-a-little-girl
Quick facts
- Poem
- I prayed, at first, a little Girl
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 21 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- 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
- 21 lines · 5 stanzas of 4–5 lines
- End rhyme
- No regular perfect end rhyme. The poem may still be using slant rhyme, assonance, or internal echo, which this check does not score.
- Line length
- Lines run 5-8 syllables (median 6), consistent with trimeter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
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
- PoetryDBI prayed, at first, a little Girl 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 71be71659bd7f537…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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