A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
N, in parting from u now, Thus much let me avow-
U 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,
N 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?