A Dream Within a Dream
Take this kiss upon the brow! line 1
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow —
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream; line 5
Yet if hope has flown away
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem line 10
Is but a dream within a dream.
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand — line 15
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
Them with a tighter clasp? line 20
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?