When I was one-and-twenty / Alfred Edward Housman

When I was one-and-twenty

Alfred 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.

כשלי מלאו עשרים שנים / אלפרד אדוארד האוסמן

כְּשֶׁלִּי מָלְאוּ עֶשְׂרִים

אָמַר לִי אִישׁ חָכָם:

"פַּזֵּר שְׁקָלִים וְדִינָרִים

רַק אַל תַּשְׁלִיךְ לִבְּךָ;

פַּזֵּר פְּנִינִים וְסַפִּירִים

וּבְמַאֲוַָיֶיךָ שְׁלֹט";

אַךְ כְּשֶׁאַתָּה רַק בֶּן עֶשְׂרִים

אָזְנֶיךָ עֲרֵלוֹת.