In this tiny, charged lyric, the speaker is caught between his own melancholy and the woman’s bright, teasing laughter. He offers “poet’s tears,” but she laughs at them, and that laughter is sweeter to him than any smile — except hers. It’s a pattern: he sighs, she laughs, and yet he confesses he couldn’t live if she died. The same game plays out in June, when the cuckoo’s song goes off-kilter. Again she laughs at sighs, and this time she swears she loves him until death. The mood is intimate and precarious — a smile stretched over a deep seriousness. The repeated “die” that closes each stanza never lets the lightness float away entirely. Instead, the poem holds a fragile balance: her laughter seems to mock his sadness, but it also binds them together, making their affection feel both ordinary and desperately precious.
Song — Summary
AT poet's tears, Sweeter than any smiles but hers, She laughs; I sigh; And yet I could not live if she should die.
And when in June Once more the cuckoo spoils his tune, She laughs at sighs; And yet she says she loves me till she dies.