* * * 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 indead, But Death intenser - Death is Life's high meed. 1819 |
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