A Dream Within a Dream

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?


Today is Edgar Allan Poe's 200th Birthday, or rather would be if people lived so long! Poe is of course one of my favorite poets, his writing has an amazing detail and imagination. This poem, A Dream Within A Dream was published the year that he died, he was 40 years old at the time. Poe had an amazingly tragic life, never really finding love or happiness.

My interest in Poe is directly attributable to my Dad. We used to have him read us his stories and poems, sometimes even as bedtime stories! My dad has such a wonderful way of reading his works, and I will never forget his recitation of the Raven.