* poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) Is all that we see or seem But 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?