Lyric Poem · Peace

My period had come for Prayer

by Emily Dickinson

Reading room

1My period had come for Prayer —

2No other Art — would do —

3My Tactics missed a rudiment —

4Creator — Was it you?

5God grows above — so those who pray

6Horizons — must ascend —

7And so I stepped upon the North

8To see this Curious Friend —

9His House was not — no sign had He —

10By Chimney — nor by Door

11Could I infer his Residence —

12Vast Prairies of Air

13Unbroken by a Settler —

14Were all that I could see —

15Infinitude — Had'st Thou no Face

16That I might look on Thee?

17The Silence condescended —

18Creation stopped — for Me —

19But awed beyond my errand —

20I worshipped — did not "pray" —

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“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.

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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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Lyric Poem Peace Friendship

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