poem by american writer edgar allan poe 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 