| A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad. 1896. |
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| XIII. When I was one-and-twenty |
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| WHEN I was one-and-twenty | |
| I heard a wise man say, | |
| ‘Give crowns and pounds and guineas | |
| But not your heart away; | |
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| Give pearls away and rubies | 5 |
| But keep your fancy free.’ | |
| But I was one-and-twenty, | |
| No use to talk to me. | |
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| When I was one-and-twenty | |
| I heard him say again, | 10 |
| ‘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, | 15 |
| And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true. | |
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