WHEN I HAVE FEARS

John Keats 1795-1821

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. 

An English Romantic poet, Keats was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Byron and  Shelley.

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