| John Donne (1572–1631). The Poems of John Donne. 1896. | | | | Songs and Sonnets | | The Triple Fool |
| | | I AM two fools, I know, | |
| For loving, and for saying so | |
| In whining poetry; | |
| But where’s that wise man, 1 that would not be I, | |
| If she would not deny? | 5 |
| Then as th’ earth’s inward narrow crooked lanes | |
| Do purge sea water’s fretful salt away, | |
| I thought, if I could draw my pains | |
| Through rhyme’s vexation, I should them allay. | |
| Grief brought to numbers 2 cannot be so fierce, | 10 |
| For he tames it, that fetters it in verse. | |
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| But when I have done so, | |
| Some man, his art and voice 3 to show, | |
| Doth set and sing my pain; | |
| And, by delighting many, frees again | 15 |
| Grief, which verse did restrain. | |
| To love and grief tribute of verse belongs, | |
| But not of such as pleases when ’tis read. | |
| Both are increasèd by such songs, | |
| For both their triumphs so are published, | 20 |
| And I, which was two fools, do so grow three. | |
| Who are a little wise, the best fools be. | |
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