Sonnet + 

Why Did I Laugh To-Night? + 

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. + 