Why did I laugh tonight? 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! 0 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.