HOUSMAN

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 out of the bosom 
Was never given in vain; 
'Tis paid with sigs a plenty 
And sold for endless rue." 
And I am two-and-twenty, 
And oh 'tis true, 'tis true.

________________________________________

A. E. HOUSMAN
A SHROPSHIRE LAD: XXVI
1896

1   Along the field as we came by
2 A year ago, my love and I, 
3 The aspen over stile and stone
4 Was talking to itself alone. 
5 "Oh who are these that kiss and pass? 
6 A country lover and his lass; 
7 Two lovers looking to be wed; 
8 And time shall put them both to bed, 
9 But she shall lie with earth above, 
10 And he beside another love." 
11   And sure enough beneath the tree
12 There walks another love with me, 
13 And overhead the aspen heaves
14 Its rainy-sounding silver leaves; 
15 And I spell nothing in their stir, 
16 But now perhaps they speak to her, 
17 And plain for her to understand
18 They talk about a time at hand
19 When I shall sleep with clover clad, 
20 And she beside another lad. 
The End