Why Did I Laugh Tonight?
The complete poetical works and letters of John Keats, 1819
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.