Two Housman Poems

Song Cycle by Mervin Whitcomb

?. Oh, when I was in love [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

Oh, when I was in love with you,
Then I was [clean]¹ and brave,
And miles around the wonder grew
[How]² well did I behave.

[And]³ now the fancy passes by,
And nothing will remain,
And miles around they'll say that I
Am quite myself again.

Text Authorship:

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 18, first published 1896

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Oh, als verliebt ich war in dich", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Hagen: "sweet"
² Hagen: "so"
³ Hagen: "But"

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

?. When I was one‑and‑twenty [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

When I was one-and-twenty
 I heard [a wise man]¹ 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.

Text Authorship:

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 13, first published 1896

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Steele: "an old man"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Total word count: 132