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 seen 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 Bu a dream within a dream?