WHEN I HAVE FEARS THAT I MAY CEASE TO BE

John Keats

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has gleand my teeming brain,

Before high piled books, in charactry,

Hold like rich garners the full-ripend grain;

When I behold, upon the nights starrd 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 faery 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.