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;

’T is paid with sighs a-plenty

And sold for endless rue.”

And I am two-and-twenty,

And oh, ’t is true, ’t is true.