A Dream within a Dream
- Take this kiss upon thy brow! And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow— You are not wrong, to deem
That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
- I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand—
How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep—while I weep! O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
