The speaker announces in the first stanza that love is a child who deserves constant attention but who will flee the moment he stops crying. The child, she argues, will only demand more and more from you the more attention he receives.
The second and third stanzas portray the child as mischievous and deceptive, cautioning the reader not to believe the promises the child makes. The speaker warns the reader that the child will attempt to flatter and seduce in order to get what he wants. The fourth stanza admonishes that to indulge love will ultimately bring about one's "failing."
In the final stanza of the poem, the speaker compares love to an oxymoronic firm feather and a fierce preying wolf. Finally, the closing couplet returns to the opening lines of the poem as the speaker encourages the reader to "leave him crying."
