A Dream Within A Dream

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
Granis 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?