WHEN I WAS ONE AND TWENTY

By; A. E. Housman

When I was one- and- twenty

   I heard a wise man say,

"Give crowns and pounds and guineas

   But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubles

   But keep your fancy free."

But I was one-and-twenty,

   No use to talk to me

When I was one-and-twenty

   I heard him say again,

"The heart out the bosom

   Was never given in vain;

"Tis paid with sighs a-plenty

   And sold for endless rue"

And I am two-and-twenty,

   And oh, " Tis true, 'tis true