Clowns Are Seldom Fools Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Just because I may act foolish.
As if to be a fool.
You'd be a fool to take me for one.

"Why would I do that?
The best lessons I have learned,
Were those taught by those I thought...
Had been clowns.
Telling jokes,
About what I never found funny at all."

Clowns are seldom fools.
Only fools want to be clowns.
And they are all over the place.
Wasting their minds and time,
Doing nothing else but being laughed at.

"Well...
I've learned to laugh at my own jokes.
Just to see who takes me seriously."

For what reason?
What does that prove?
And to who?

"It proves to me,
Who takes me for a fool."