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

Is all that we see or seem - But a dream within a dream?

Typography & Graphic Design by Here i Am

Photography by Nabeel Farah, Rodolfo Clix, Manu M, Zeth Lorenzo, Peter Hellebrand, Martin Jans, Vivek Chugh, Hannah Boettcher, Georgios Wollbrecht & Penny Mathews. See credits for further info.

A typographic & photographic interpretation of the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849.
Click on the smaller images to see the larger versions.

A Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

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?