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Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow —

You’re not wrong, who really 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 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,

Through my heart that beats so creep

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 ruthless wave?

Is all we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

But a dream within a dream…