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