Tuesday Supplement

I felt like adding a poem.

When I Have Fears
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
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.

--John Keats


Commentary from Hilley: I love this sonnet, written by the doomed Keats shortly before his death. In it, he discusses the things he would miss most upon his demise--reading, writing, and love, not necessarily in that order. The sonnet is a brief form that lends itself to many subjects, but in this case (as in so many other Keats poems) he reflects on the brevity of life. It's not as moody a piece as "To a Nightingale," but I think it is thought-provoking and sweetly sad.