271. When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be by John Keats
J Keats read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\n http://classicpoetryaloud.podomatic.com/\n \n Giving voice to the poetry of the past.\n \n ---------------------------------------------------\n \n When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be\n by John Keats (1795 - 1821)\n \n When I have fears that I may cease to be\n Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,\n Before high pil'ed books, in charact'ry,\n Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;\n When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,\n Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,\n And feel that I may never live to trace\n Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;\n And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!\n That I shall never look upon thee more,\n Never have relish in the faery power\n Of unreflecting love;\u2014then on the shore\n Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,\n Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink. \n \n First aired: 28 July 2007\n \n For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\n \n Reading \xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2008