When I Was One-and-Twenty

A Shropshire Lad, 1896

When I was one-and-twentyI heard a wise man say,'Give crowns and pounds and guineasBut not your heart away;Give pearls away and rubiesBut keep your fancy free.'But I was one-and-twenty,No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twentyI heard him say again,'The heart out of the bosomWas never given in vain;'T is paid with sighs a plentyAnd sold for endless rue.'And I am two-and-twenty,And oh, 't is true, 't is true.

From A Shropshire Lad (1896), via the English Wikisource transcription.

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