When I Was One-and-Twenty

She is quite small, only 6″x8″

XIII. “When I was one-and-twenty…”
by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)

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.

I’ve fnally treated myself to one of Michelle Caplan’s little collages. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with her.  I have no idea yet where to put her, but she is currently propped up against one of the little speakers on my desk and her eyes follow me round the room.

Michelle somewhat prosaically named her Sally3 but I think I will call her Melissa, because she looks like Melissa from ‘thirtysomething’  (she says, dating herself quite a lot).