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