William Stanley Braithwaite, "Laughing it Out" (1915)
Upon the exit of a chance;
He floundered in a sea of doubt--
If life was real--or just romance.
Sometimes upon his brow would come
A little pucker of defiance;
He totalled in a word the sum
If life was real--or just romance.
And then a hearty laugh would break,
A reasoning shrug of shoulder;
And we would from his fancy take
A faith in death which made life bolder.
Published in The Crisis, April 1915