Contrariwise: Literary Tattoos Over 600 tattoos from books, poetry, music, and other sources.

4Oct/094

all that we see or seem

This is Minty's tattoo.

tatted 023

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?
- Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within A Dream

All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

- Excerpt from A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

20Jan/093

A dream within a dream

This tattoo was submitted by Caitlin:

This was my favorite poem growing up. After playing with tattoo ideas for a while when this one hit me, so I went with it, and it became my first tattoo.

edgar allen poe tattoo

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.

- Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within A Dream

PS
Yesterday would have been Poe's 300th 200th birthday!  I can count.

29Apr/082

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?

- Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within A Dream

(source)