CAN you judge a smile who is gay,
Nor once be misled by the token?
I know that I laughed aloud one day,
⁠From a heart that was almost broken.

But my laughter rang false, do you say?
⁠Or tears followed very soon after.
You are wrong for I wept not that day,
⁠And my laugh was the merriest laughter.

That my grief was not deep, you maintain,
⁠Since I found it so easy to cover;
But I tell you I writhed with the pain,
⁠And one writhes not when anguish is over.

For my own part I scarcely believe
⁠That sighing can only mean sadness;
And I wholly misdoubt, you perceive,
⁠That laughter must always prove gladness.

Are you sure it is grief when a tear starts?
⁠Can you trust smiles of mirth in all places?
If aught can be falser than human hearts,
⁠It must surely be human faces!