When I have Fears that I may cease to be
WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain
Before high pil`d books in charact'ry
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold upon the night's starr'd face 5
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance
And feel 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 10
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;¡ªthen on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.