WHY did I laugh to-night? No voice will tell: No God, no Demon of severe response, Deigns to reply from heaven or from Hell. Then to my human heart I turn at once. Heart! Thou and I are here sad and alone; I say, why did I laugh! O mortal pain! O Darkness! Darkness! ever must I moan, To question Heaven and Hell and Heart in vain. Why did I laugh? I know this Being's lease, My fancy to its utmost blisses spreads; Yet would I on this very midnight cease, And the world's gaudy ensigns see in shreds; Verse, Fame, and Beauty are intense indeed, But Death intenser--Death is Life's high meed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: YEE BOW by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE TESTAMENT OF CRESSEID by ROBERT HENRYSON OF TREASON by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS THE WORLD (1) by HENRY VAUGHAN THE RAZOR-SELLER by JOHN WOLCOTT LAUTERBRUNNEN by THOMAS GOLD APPLETON THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD: BALEUS PROLOCUTOR by JOHN BALE |