Explore "Sonnet: why did I Laugh to-Night?" by John Keats on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
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.