A Dream Within a Dream

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

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？