John Keats · 1848
When I have fears that I may cease to be
John Keats · 1848
When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charact'ry, Hold like full garners the full-ripen'd grain; When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face, Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And feel 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.
Public domain in the UK and the US · serany.app
What Serany thinks about this poem
Background
Keats wrote it in 1818, at twenty-two, already ill with the tuberculosis that had killed his mother and brother. He died three years later, and it was printed in 1848.
Meaning
He's scared he'll die before he's written what's in him, or loved enough. Then he stops, stands at the edge of everything, and lets go of wanting either.
Who's it for
A writer, a painter, or anyone who had more they meant to make. It belongs to a person who died in the middle of their work.
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