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 aplenty
   And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty,
   And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

~ A. E. Housman (1859 - 1936) English classical scholar and poet.