Come all ye fair and tender ladies
Take warning how you court your men
They're like a star on a cloudy morning
First they'll appear and then they're gone

They'll tell to you some loving story
They'll swear to you their love is true
Straight way they'll go and court another
And that's the love that they had for you

Oh don't you remember our days of courting
You told me that you would love me the best
You could make me believe by the fall of your eyes
That the sun rose in the west

If I had known before I courted
That love was such a killing thing
I'd lock my heart in a box of golden
And fasten it with a silver pin

I wish I was a little sparrow
And I had wings and I could fly
I'd fly right home to my false true lover
And when he'd ask, I would deny

But I am not some little sparrow
I've no wings and I can't fly
So I'll stay right here with my grief and sorrow
And let my life pass me by

Come all ye fair and tender ladies
Take warning how you court your men
They're like a star on a cloudy morning
First they'll appear and then they're gone