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| (Image by Paul Whiting) |
I'm a Fool Who Fell in Love!
(Or, "For All The Fools Who Fall in Love")
On days like this, I will often say with a sigh,
"What a fool am I!"
For, my heart used to be so strong, but now
I'm full of foolish song.
And I shouldn't yearn for him each day, since
I was a fool to fall and get that way
—which must be totally true, because
everyone says I'm a fool to be pinning the whole day through!
And, even though,
"he's a fool and don't I know it...but a fool can have his charms,"
I still feel so safe in his loving arms.
Yet, I will withhold my longing sighs, alas,
'cause I've been fooled in the past!
Which is why—when I see him—I will often cry,
"I'm a fool to want you..."
-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., Small All White in the Forest)
"I am no barrier to its sun; the light and I are as one!"
My Poetic Notes:
The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: I wrote this poem based upon all of the songs from Linda Ronstadt's standard albums "What's New," "Lush Life," "For Sentimental Reasons" and "Hummin' To Myself," which include the words 'fool, foolish or fooled' in the song—for April Fools' Day! Plus, the 'he/him' whom I am in love in the poem is allegorical. (Please see the hyperlinks below for the videos.)
By the way, there are two other poems that are inspired by Linda Ronstadt on my blogs. One poem is based upon her last album of standard songs titled, "Hummin' To Myself." The other poem is an homage to the compilation album titled, "'Round Midnight" from her first three albums of standard songs. Both poems are published on this blog. (Please see "Singer Linda Ronstadt-Inspired Poem" in labels for the poems.)
Just so you know, I revised this poem, as I often do with my writing! And I changed how this poem was written when I was editing it on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" and "Small All White in the Forest" blogs. So, I wanted to show you how this poem used to be written, before I revised it as above.
And it used to be written like this:
On days like this, I will often say with a sigh, "What a fool am I!" For, my heart used to be so strong, but I'm full of foolish song. And I shouldn't yearn for him each day, since I was a fool to fall and get that way—which must be true, because everyone says I'm a fool to be pinning the whole day through! And even though "he's a fool and don't I know it...but a fool can have his charms," I still feel so safe in his loving arms. Yet, I will withhold my loving sighs, alas, 'cause I've been fooled in the past! Which is why—when I see him—I will often cry, "I'm a fool to want you..."
Thus, I revised this poem to be written as it is above.
And this poem was also published on my "Poet, Artist and Philosopher" and "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blogs (please see the hyperlink below for the blogs), since I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message I am trying to convey through "Poet, Artist and Philosopher and "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer."
This poem was written in Portland, Oregon.
-Paulee
https://poetartistandphilosopher.blogspot.com
https://paulwhitingwriting.blogspot.com
[Blogger's Note: It's October 30th, 2025, and I just checked all of the links for the songs below to see of they were still working, however, all but two of them weren't! You see, I recently happened to notice a playlist that I created on YouTube Music, in which I listed all of the tracks from the album 'Round Midnight in reverse order—which is a compilation of the albums What's New, Lush Life and For Sentimental Reasons—was no longer there either. So, I thought to check these links too, which is why I replaced all of the broken links with new ones that are working! -Paulee]
"What a fool am I" is a line from the song "I Get Along Without You Very Well," which is performed by Linda Ronstadt on her album For Sentimental Reasons. Watch it on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/EOj-0YUqdbI?si=lDquRzhqcDzE5hq5
"I'm full of foolish song" is a line from the song "I've Never Been In Love Before," which is performed by Linda Ronstadt on her album Hummin' to Myself. Watch it on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/OjbOGvoA21w
"I was a fool to fall and get that way" is a line from the song "But Not For Me," which is performed by Linda Ronstadt on her album For Sentimental Reasons. Watch it on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/zDDaWmQKeo8?si=dBybCeI93DXgS6uY
"Everyone says I'm a fool to be pinning the whole day through" is a line from the song "Mean To Me," which is performed by Linda Ronstadt on her album Lush Life. Watch it on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/KHV2L8JGAJ0?si=vfyTpd_0CwLdg36N
"He's a fool and don't I know it, but a fool can have his charms" is a line from the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," which is performed by Linda Ronstadt on her album For Sentimental Reasons. Watch it on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/bA1SU4oK7PU?si=dx2ID2Em7ASlp-Zu
"'Cause I've been fooled in the past" is a line from the song "I Fall In Love Too Easily," which is performed by Linda Ronstadt on her album Hummin' to Myself. Watch it on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/LmMh4_Ol71U
"I'm a fool to want you" is a line from the song "I'm A Fool To Want You," which is performed by Linda Ronstadt on her album Lush Life. Watch it on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/nvnqT7ToJNY?si=9lwH_zJiw9_9q5yd
This "Small All White in the Forest" Post No. 106 was edited on November 5th, 2025.
"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]
