A Dream Within A Dream
   by Edgar Allan Poe
      Take this kiss upon the brow!
         And, in parting from you now,
            Thus much let me avow--
               You are not wrong, who 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?