| When I have fears that I may cease to be | |
| Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain, | |
| Before high-piled 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 think that I may never live to trace | |
| Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance; | |
| And when I feel, fear Creature of an hour! | |
| That I should never look upon thee more, | 10 |
| Never have relish in the fairy power | |
| Of unreflecting love -- then on the shore | |
| Of the wide world I stand alone, and think | |
| Till Love and Fame to nothingness to sink. | |
