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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHARLESTON by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE TO ELIZABETH, COUNTESS OF RUTLAND by BEN JONSON MESSIAH; A SACRED ECLOGUE IN IMITATION OF VIRGIL'S POLLIO by ALEXANDER POPE HESPERUS THE BRINGER by SAPPHO GLORY OF WOMEN by SIEGFRIED SASSOON |