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When I Was One and TwentyA. E. Housman

When I Was One and Twenty

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 rubies

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 of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

'T is paid with sighs a plenty

And sold for endless rue.'

And I am two-and-twenty,

And oh, 't is true, 't is true.