*best of show, susan h. arnold gallery, pa 2004

dream
opaque watercolor, acrylic, 22k gold on paper

  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 allen poe