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?

(Photos 1, 6, 8, and 9 by Darrell Loudermilk. Photos 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 by Wendy Loudermilk. All photos taken in Alleghany County, Virginia. Melodrama courtesy of Edgar Allan Poe.)

Permalink -- Posted by Darrell at 20:51