Lyric Poem · Peace
My period had come for Prayer
My period had come for Prayer —
No other Art — would do —
My Tactics missed a rudiment —
Creator — Was it you?
God grows above — so those who pray
Horizons — must ascend —
And so I stepped upon the North
To see this Curious Friend —
His House was not — no sign had He —
By Chimney — nor by Door
Could I infer his Residence —
Vast Prairies of Air
Unbroken by a Settler —
Were all that I could see —
Infinitude — Had'st Thou no Face
That I might look on Thee?
The Silence condescended —
Creation stopped — for Me —
But awed beyond my errand —
I worshipped — did not "pray" —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“My period had come for Prayer” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/my-period-had-come-for-prayer
Quick facts
- Poem
- My period had come for Prayer
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 20 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Peace, Friendship
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
- 20 lines · 5 quatrains
- Line length
- Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). 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
- PoetryDBMy period had come for Prayer 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 1573cddf83adaebe…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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