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 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?