Sonnet: When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be

by John Keats

    When I have fears that I may cease to be
    Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
    Before high piled books, in charactry,
    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.