A Fear + 

O Mother Earth, I have a fear + 

Which I would tell to thee⁠— + 

Softly and gently in thine ear + 

When the moon and we are three. + 

Thy grass and flowers are beautiful; + 

Among thy trees I hide; + 

And underneath the moonlight cool + 

Thy sea looks broad and wide; + 

But this I fear⁠—lest thou shouldst grow + 

To me so small and strange, + 

So distant I should never know + 

On thee a shade of change, + 

Although great earthquakes should uplift + 

Deep mountains from their base, + 

And thy continual motion shift + 

The lands upon thy face;⁠— + 

The grass, the flowers, the dews that lie + 

Upon them as before⁠— + 

Driven upwards evermore, lest I + 

Should love these things no more. + 

Even now thou dimly hast a place + 

In deep star galaxies! + 

And I, driven ever on through space, + 

Have lost thee in the skies! + 