When I Was
One-and-Twenty
BY A. E. 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.
Those of us who respond to this poem with a silent nod of acknowledgement have lived long enough to understand how it feels to love, and to squander that love away. There is something about being young that requires the toughest of life’s lessons, as often as our elders try to advise against it, must be learned first-hand.
Speak to an old man about youth, and he will growl about how it is wasted on the young. The vitality, the strength and all the days that remain ahead to embark on endeavors based on dreams are enviable trinkets that grow more valuable with age. Youth is a possession seldom appreciated by those who have it. It is taken for granted because, unlike most of what we value, our youth is not earned. It’s given freely. And, something given freely is something set aside.
Ask a young man about growing old, and he will chuckle about years he can’t yet imagine. He may be resolved to looking like his father, but will never fall victim of following in his footsteps. Authority is meant to be challenged. Life is meant to be explored. Love is something in which you are to be enveloped. Hold your questions about the future, because there is too much of today worth exploring. Let old men fall asleep at the stroke of eight, and have the young chase the moon into the rising sun.
Some of us now walk and feel the many miles we’ve traveled chasing the moon into the rising dawn, only for the pain to remind us we never did catch it. We’re left to question what would have happened had we spent less time pursuing such fruitless quests. Dreams are trinkets that depreciate in value as they continue to be deferred. With some young men and women, those dreams are worth only as much as the confidence they have within themselves. And, as the years unimaginably slip through the hourglass, those once-young men and women learn to regret for ever doubting themselves, for ever setting aside those dreams.
Tommy Brown lived to 20 years before he died too soon. He spent his nights chasing after the moon, never riddled with regret, but living out a dream. The heart out of his bosom — given to his friends, his family, his car and his girlfriend — was never given in vain.
And, his fancy will forever be free.
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