John Keats, (1795-1821)

When I Have Fears

When I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books in charact'ry
Hold like rich graners the full-ripened grain'
When I behold, upon the night's starred face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may 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
Til Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

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