A Dream Within a Dream

By Edgar Allen Poe (1809 - 1849)

Although he was better known for his macabre short stories, Poe was also a prolific poet. Although dark, I must admit I have never found Poe to be depressing. His work is too clever, to curious, to manic even in its depression to leave a lasting mark on me. Sometimes I wonder if the horror in his work is what is new, not what is true.

 A Dream Within a Dream
By Edgar Allen Poe

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 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?