Tuesday, April 5, 2011

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 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 aplenty
And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.


Housman, A.E. "When I Was One-and-Twenty." British Literature. Ed. Ronald H. Horton. Greenville, SC: BJU Press, 2003. 678. Print. 

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