Take this kiss

upon the brow!

And, in parting from you know,

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 therfor the less gone?

In a vision, or none

Is it therfor the less gone?

​

All that we see

or all that we 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

​

All that we see

or all that we seem

Is but a dream within a dream

​

How few - yet - how they creep

Through my fingers - to the deep

while I weep - while I weep

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 a pitiless wave?

O God! can I not save

One from a pitiless wave?

​

All that we see

or all that we seem

Is but a dream within a dream