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...THE WORD OF AN ENGINEER by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON PROTESTS (AFTER A PAINTING BY HUGO BALLIN) by LOUIS UNTERMEYER MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER BIRTH by THOMAS HOOD LANCER by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN TRAVEL by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY SONNET: 21. TO CYRIACK SKINNER by JOHN MILTON |