A Dream Within A Dream

[mcZu]

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?

This guy was ahead of his time.

[GoodGirlsGetGutted]

I won't lie, I'm not a big fan of EAP. He's too formulaic.

[mcZu]

True, but the way he utilized that is what makes his work so intriguing.

[GoodGirlsGetGutted]

Emily Dickinson is better.

"I taste a liquor never brewed"

I taste a liquor never brewed,
From tankards scooped in pearl;
Not all the vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an alcohol!

Inebriate of air am I,
And debauchee of dew,
Reeling, through endless summer days,
From inns of molten blue.  

When landlords turn the drunken bee
Out of the foxglove’s door,        
When butterflies renounce their drams,
I shall but drink the more!  

Till seraphs swing their snowy hats,
And saints to windows run,
To see the little tippler        
Leaning against the sun!

[mcZu]

I'll be frank, that is pretty good, indeed. I never gave Dickinson a chance, don't know why. Any more you recommend?

[GoodGirlsGetGutted]

They're ALL good that's why I would consider her to be the greatest poet ever.
Here's just about her entire catalogue:
http://www.bartleby.com/113/