Keats, John: Why Did I Laugh Tonight? No Voice Will Tell

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? 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.