When I was One and Twenty One

When I was one and twenty one
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
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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
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----A.E.Housman