22 February, 2014

When I Have Fears by John Keats

Photo credit: stackoverflow.com

When I have fears that I may cease to be 
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain, 
Before high-piled books, in charactery, 
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain; 
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd 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. 

John Keats