(c) J.A Phillips
As a result of the Covid-19 lockdown and lack of direct social interaction, vivid dreams and memories of past places, people, and events appear to be happening more frequently for people. I wonder if it is because of the strange situation that we find ourselves in, or that we have more time to think and connect with our subconscious imagination. So for today, I post my image along with Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘A Dream Within a Dream’ a poem that reflects on fragility and fleetingness.
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?
