When I Was One-And-Twenty - Allfred Edward Housman  
  
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.  
  
Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936)