Poems on the Underground

Every morning when I get on the tube I search throught the most horrible of advertising (mostly offering home loans or some such services) in the hopes that I will find one of the more decent poems, or any to be honest, this is because the earphones to my minidisc are broken and I'd rather spend money on DVD's than buy a new pair. This is one that I read this morning, its from 'A Shropshire Lad' by A.E. Housman, published in 1896.

- XIII -

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.