Vast Prairies of Air
A poem by Emily Dickinson
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 - * reverently.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Edited by Thomas H. Johnson
Published by Little, Brown and Company
New York
* Original words in the last line of the poem are
*did not "pray" -
Sorry, Emily, but I like my ending better. Still,
you are the very best. I love your poems.
