African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

William Stanley Braithwaite, "Laughing it Out" (1915)

He had a whim, and laughted it out
   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

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