WheN i Was One-and-TwentY

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. "

But I was one-and-twenty,

No use to talk to me ....

" the heart out of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

'Tis paid with sigths a-plenty

And sold for endless rue. "

And I am two-and-twenty

And oh, ' tis true, 'tis true.