A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

The first picture is Virginia Clemm, Poe's Cousin, whom he married when she was 13 and he was 27. Virginia became ill with tuberculosis when she was 20 and died when she was 24. This provides some insight into Poe's melancholia. Many writers of horror stories have suffered similar personal tragedies. 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?