The poem is expression in motion. When I was one-and-twenty is the first line of the untitled Poem XIII from A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad (1896), but has often been anthologised and given musical settings under that title. It is a short poem made up of two stanzas, in which the young speaker talks about the experience of falling in and out of love. At age 21, the speaker was told by a wise man that it was better to give all one's money away than one's heart. The speaker, of course, didn't listen, and by the ripe old age of 22 has come to know the painful truth of the wise man's words.
#Poem: #WhenIwasone_and_twenty by #A_E_Housman | Poem recitation
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.
Video editor: Kaushal Desai
Poem recited by: Kaushal Desai
Background music: Acoustic Guitar Background Music