1   Ah! heedless girl! why thus disclose     What ne’er was meant for other ears:   Why thus destroy thine own repose     And dig the source of future tears? 2   Oh, thou wilt weep, imprudent maid,     While lurking envious foes will smile,   For all the follies thou hast said     Of those who spoke but to beguile. 3   Vain girl! thy ling’ring woes are nigh,     If thou believ’st what striplings say:   Oh, from the deep temptation fly,     Nor fall the specious spoiler’s prey. 4   Dost thou repeat, in childish boast,     The words man utters to deceive?   Thy peace, thy hope, thy all is lost,     If thou canst venture to believe. 5   While now amongst thy female peers     Thou tell’st again the soothing tale,   Canst thou not mark the rising sneers     Duplicity in vain would veil? 6   These tales in secret silence hush,     Nor make thyself the public gaze:   What modest maid without a blush     Recounts a flattering coxcomb’s praise? 7   Will not the laughing boy despise     Her who relates each fond conceit—   Who, thinking Heaven is in her eyes,     Yet cannot see the slight deceit? 8   For she who takes a soft delight     These amorous nothings in revealing,   Must credit all we say or write,     While vanity prevents concealing. 9   Cease, if you prize your beauty’s reign!     No jealousy bids me reprove:   One, who is thus from nature vain,     I pity, but I cannot love.