Poem by Alfred Edward Housman

A Shropshire Lad. 13. 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;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
  And sold for endless rue.'
And I am two-and-twenty
  And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

1. More Poems. 17. Bells in Tower at Evening Toll
2. More Poems. 22. Ho, Everyone that Tthirsteth
3. More Poems. 9. When Green Buds Hang in the Elm Like Dust
4. Additional Poems. 2. Oh Were He and I Together
5. More Poems. 18. Delight it Is in Youth and May

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