azdak

A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad. 1896.

XIII. 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 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,
And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.

A.E. Houseman

I can never read Houseman without thinking of Wendy Cope's poem:

I think I am in love with A.E. Houseman,
Which puts me in a worse than usual fix.
No woman ever stood a chance with Houseman
And he's been dead since 1936.