When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be
By John Keats
When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starred face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And I feel that I maybe never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel,fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the fairy power
Of unreflecting love;
Then on the shore of the wide world I stand alone, and think,
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink!