Poems About Fear

Table of Contents

1. Afraid? Of whom am I afraid?

   by Emily Dickinson

   
   

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   Afraid? Of whom am I afraid?
   Not death; for who is he?
   The porter of my father's lodge
   As much abasheth me.

   Of life? 'T were odd I fear a thing
   That comprehendeth me
   In one or more existences
   At Deity's decree.

   Of resurrection? Is the east
   Afraid to trust the morn
   With her fastidious forehead?
   As soon impeach my crown!

2. I lived on dread; to those who know

   by Emily Dickinson

   I lived on dread; to those who know
   The stimulus there is
   In danger, other impetus
   Is numb and vital-less.

   As 't were a spur upon the soul,
   A fear will urge it where
   To go without the spectre's aid
   Were challenging despair.

3. Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn

   by Emily Dickinson

   Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn
   Indicative that suns go down;
   The notice to the startled grass
   That darkness is about to pass.

4. The Inevitable

   by Emily Dickinson

   While I was fearing it, it came,
   But came with less of fear,
   Because that fearing it so long
   Had almost made it dear.
   There is a fitting a dismay,
   A fitting a despair.
   'Tis harder knowing it is due,
   Than knowing it is here.
   The trying on the utmost,
   The morning it is new,
   Is terribler than wearing it
   A whole existence through.
   

5. "It Is I: Be Not Afraid."

   by Anonymous

   
   

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   How shall I know Thee, Master, when the night
   Falls black about the way,
   When earth is void, and heaven has no light,
   And wild winds hunt their prey?
   

   How shall I know 'tis Thee, or fiends of hell
   In forms that image Thee?
   They throng with mockeries, and can I tell
   When Thou art come to me?
   

   Yes, by the proof of peace! Oh, Saviour dear,
   However sore dismayed,
   When once Thy least low whispering I hear,
   I shall not be afraid!
   

6. When I have Fears

   by John Keats

   When I have fears that I may cease to be
   Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
   Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
   Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
   When I behold, upon the night’s starred 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.
   

7. They Say

   by Anonymous

   
   

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   The subject of my speech is one
   We hear of every day—
   ’Tis simply all about the fear
   We have of what “they say!”
   

   How happy all of us could be,
   If—as we go our way—
   We did not stop to think and care
   So much for what “they say!”
   

8. Despair

   by Jean Blewett

   
   

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   We catch a glimpse of it, gaunt and gray,
   When the golden sunbeams are all abroad;
   We sober a moment, then softly say:
   The world still lies in the hand of God.
   

   We watch it stealthily creeping o'er
   The threshold leading to somebody's soul;
   A shadow, we cry, it cannot be more
   When faith is one's portion and Heaven one's goal.
   

   A ghost that comes stealing its way along,
   Affrighting the weak with its gruesome air.
   But who that is young and glad and strong
   Fears for a moment to meet Despair?
   

   To this heart of ours we have thought so bold
   All uninvited it comes one day—
   Lo! faith grows wan, and love grows cold,
   And the heaven of our dreams lies far away.
   

9. The Angel's Word

   by Elizabeth Hedge Webster

   
   

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   Fear not, fear not, though trials press,
   And sorrows dark around you throng;
   My peace I give, my peace to bless;
   Be strong! O yea I say—be strong!
   

   What though the hosts of darkness try
   In wrath your conflict to prolong,
   Fear not, fear not, but bid them fly,
   Be strong! O yea I say—be strong.
   

   Come then and launch the shoreless deep
   O sweetly sing the heavenly song,
   The angels time we now will keep
   Here's peace and love, be strong, be strong.
   

   Fear not beloved, fear ye not
   In love be like that holy throng
   As undefiled and free from spot,
   Here's peace and love, be strong, be strong.
   

   And [the angel] said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.

   – Daniel 10:19a
   KJV

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