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 road
of a surf-tormented shore,
and i hope 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?

-edgar allen poe

one of my favourites. this poem is especially touching, expounding on the limitations of us humans. and because of that, we begin to think maybe these limitations are not real; just a facade that we live with. then we question the reality of things...

then again, the beauty of poetry, especially when you don't need to write an essay on the literary devices etc. but when you're reading in during your personal time for pleasure, it really allows you to relate to it in every sense. you might not be 'right' in interpreting in, but you are right in your own right. okay, sounds confusing, it's like i believe poetry has no right or wrong intepretation, the point is when it is tested in exams, boundaries are placed on the intepretation of the poem. an musician once remarked that it didn't matter how his audience intepreted his piece of work, the most important part of his performance and his role as a musician is for the audience to appreciate his work, in any aspect, even if the intepretation is wrong.

actually i typed a whole chunk after the above paragraph, just decided to cut it out and leave it for my personal viewing. sigh, never thought what that person said would affect me so much, but it did. it just sucks for people to misunderstand you and misconstrue things, i know i appear to be sloppy, flippant and aloof but that might not necessarily be true.