Poem by Alfred Edward Housman

Last Poems. 35. When First My Way to Fair I Took

When first my way to fair I took
        Few pence in purse had I,
And long I used to stand and look
        At things I could not buy.

Now times are altered: if I care
        To buy a thing, I can;
The pence are here and here’s the fair,
        But where’s the lost young man?

— To think that two and two are four
        And neither five nor three
The heart of man has long been sore
        And long ’tis like to be.

1. Additional Poems. 11a. They Shall Have Breath that Never Were
2. Last Poems. 21. The Fairies Break Their Dances
3. Last Poems. 19. In Midnights of November
4. More Poems. 29. From the Wash the Laundress Sends
5. Additional Poems. 16. Some Can Gaze and not Be Sick

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