Once I heard a woman laughing— Not like laughter of the women you have heard; Syllables whose beauty blinds you, and reminds you Of a brook in sunlight, or a sweet, leaf-hidden bird. There is laughter that is human Though shot through with notes of pain— And then there is that laughter of an old, old, evil woman, Raising red and burning mists within the brain. In the mad, gin-reeking dance-hall, Through the brainless oaths and shrieks, above the smoke Of stale tobacco, burning to man's yearning For the swinish, acrid incense—high and shrill her babbling broke. There is laughter that is human Though its poignance starts our tears— And then there is a laughter like the laughter of that woman, Freezing hearts, and ringing raucous in our ears. There were mingled in her laughter Girlish love-words, wittold curses, jests obscene. And the dancers swarmed around her, sunk profounder In their beastly, battening stupor—love grown loathly and unclean. There is laughter—bitter-human Though it sears us hot and deep— And then there is a laughter like the laughter of that woman, Worse than all the ghastly nightmares known to sleep. Old gray hair, that had been honored In a life less foul than this, less mad with lust— Gray hair, defiled, polluted, the refuted Boast of Man, the world's white banner dragged and trampled in the dust! There is laughter that is human, Though the painfullest, the harshest—yes—and then— And then there is the laughter of that old, old, evil woman. And life still crawls with maggots—that were men! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BIANCA AMONG THE NIGHTINGALES by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING RIDDLE: A CANDLE by MOTHER GOOSE CROSSING BROOKLYN FERRY by WALT WHITMAN DOVE RIVER ANTHOLOGY, BY OWN WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: LUCY GRAY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS ANOTHER FRANCIS OF ASSISI by FREDERICK HENRY HERBERT ADLER THE JOURNEY by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH THE RING AND THE BOOK: BOOK 3. THE OTHER HALF-ROME by ROBERT BROWNING |