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-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 I 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 unreflwcting love; - then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
      Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

John Keats in 100 Best-Loved Poems