Dream within a dream

Take this kiss upon the brow
And in parting from you now
This much let me avow
You are not wrong who deemed
That my days have been a dream
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, in a day, in a vision, or a memory
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 the surf tormented shore
And i hold within my hands
Grains of golden sand
How few yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep
While i weep, while i weep
Oh god can i not grasp them with a tighter clasp
Oh god can i not save one from the pitiless wave
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream