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 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.

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 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.