When I Was One-and-Twenty (Poem Text)

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Poem Text

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                  5
   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,                   10  
“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,                    15
   And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.