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Lyric Poem · Nature

Is it Well with the Child?

by Christina Rossetti

1SAFE where I cannot die yet,

2 Safe where I hope to lie too,

3Safe from the fume and the fret;

4 You, and you,

5 Whom I never forget.

6Safe from the frost and the snow,

7 Safe from the storm and the sun,

8Safe where the seeds wait to grow

9 One by one,

10 And to come back in blow.

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Quick facts

Poem
Is it Well with the Child?
Poet
Christina Rossetti
Length
10 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature, Winter, Death & Loss, 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
10 lines · one 10-line stanza
End rhyme
ABCBADEDED.
Line length
Mostly 7-syllable lines.
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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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
Christina Rossetti1830–1894
Source record
PoetryDBIs it Well with the Child? by christina-rossetti, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 428b72921a1b19ea
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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