Dream Within A Dream

All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream Take this kiss upon the brow And in parting from you now This much let me avow You are not wrong, who deemed That my days have been a dream Yet if hope has flown away In a night, in a day, in a vision, or a memory 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 hands Grains of golden sand How few, yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep While I weep, while I weep Oh god, can I not grasp them with a tighter clasp? Oh god, can I not save one from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?