Sonnet: 'Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell'

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.