Come all you fair and tender ladies Take warning how you court your men They're like the stars on a summer's morning They first appear and then they're gone They'll tell to you some flattering story And then declare that they love you well Then they'll go and court some other And leave you here in grief to dwell I wish I was a little sparrow And one of those that could fly so high And I'd fly home to my true love's dwelling When he would speak, I'd be close by I wish to the Lord I'd never seen him Or in his cradle he had died And I'd lie down in my grief and sorrow And try to pass my troubles by If I had known before I courted That love had been so hard to win I'd locked my heart with keys of golden And pinned it down with a silver pin Oh love is great and love is charming And love is pure when first it's new But love grows old and love grows colder It fades away like morning dew Come all you fair (Come all you fair) And tender ladies (And tender ladies) Be careful how (Be careful how) You court your men (You court your men) They're like the stars on a summer's evening They first appear and then they're gone