I Prayed, at First, a Little Girl
poem 576
I Prayed, at First, a Little Girl - meaning Summary
Evolving Faith and Doubt
The speaker describes a shift from childhood prayer done out of instruction to a mature, uncertain posture toward God. Early prayers were simple requests imagined as being heard by a personal deity. With experience and doubt, the speaker weighs the comfort of a powerful protector against the instability of faith. The poem traces an honest, conflicted reckoning with belief and the emotional effort required to maintain it.
Read Complete AnalysesI 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
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