AN empty laugh, I heard it on the road Shivering the twilight with its lance of mirth; And yet why empty? Knowing not its birth, This much I know, that it goes up to God; And if to God, from God it surely starts, Who has within Himself the secret springs Of all the lovely, causeless, unclaimed things, And loves them in His very heart of hearts. A girl of fifteen summers, pure and free, AEolian, vocal to the lightest touch Of fancy's winnowed breath -- Ah, happy such Whose life is music of the eternal sea! Laugh on, laugh loud and long, O merry child, And be not careful to unearth a cause: Thou art serenely placed above our laws, And we in thee with God are reconciled. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LOVER MOURNS FOR THE LOSS OF LOVE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS APPARENT FAILURE by ROBERT BROWNING SONNET (ON RECEIVING A LETTER INFORMING ME OF THE BIRTH OF A SON) by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST by RUDYARD KIPLING VERSES WRITTEN IN AN ALCOVE by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD A MOTHER'S ANSWER (2) by LILLIE E. BARR |