Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WHEN FIRST MY WAY by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN FIRST MY WAY TO FAIR I TOOK
Last Line: AND LONG 'TIS LIKE TO BE.
Subject(s): AGING;

WHEN first my way to fair I took
Few pence in purse had I,
And long I used to stand and look
At things I could not buy.

Now times are altered: if I care
To buy a thing, I can;
The pence are here and here's the fair;
But where's the lost young man?

-- To think that two and two are four
And neither five nor three
The heart of man has long been sore
And long 'tis like to be.



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