Last Poems (Housman)/When first my way to fair I took

by Alfred Edward Housman

XXXV

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.