Sunday 26 January 2014

Day 554: When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be

 
Keats today. I really don't think any other poet can use language in such the sublime and soothing 
way that he does. A very human question he asks here, but all the more particularly poignant 
considering he died at 25. But what a wealth of words he left behind.

 
When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be - John Keats
 
When I have fears that I may cease to be
   Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
   Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starred 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.

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