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Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell

John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)

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,
Say, why did I laugh? O mortal pain!
O darkness! darkness! Forever 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 it's utmost blisses spreads
Yet would I on this very midnight cease
And all the world's gaudy ensigns see in shreds
Verse, fame and beauty are intense indeed
But death intenser, death is life's high meed.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

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John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. more…

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    "Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2022. Web. 14 Aug. 2022. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/23539/why-did-i-laugh-tonight%3F-no-voice-will-tell>.

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