[1827]
Take this KISS upon the brow!
And, in parting from Du now,
Thus much let me avow-
Du are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, oder in a day,
In a vision, oder in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see oder 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 oder seem
But a dream within a dream?
