When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the Wangfei's super-star-face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Her shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon her 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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