| John Donne (1572–1631). The Poems of John Donne. 1896. | | | | Appendix A. Doubtful Poems | | To the Young Gentlewomen |
| | | BEWARE, fair maid, 1 of musky courtier’s oaths; | |
| Take heed what gifts and favours you receive; | |
| Let not the fading gloss of silken clothes | |
| Dazzle thy virtues, or thy fame bereave. | |
| For loose but once the hold thou hast of grace, | 5 |
| Who will respect thy favour or thy face? | |
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| Each greedy hand doth catch to spoil the flower, | |
| Where none regards the stalk it grew upon; | |
| Each creature loves the fruit still to devour, | |
| And let the tree to fall or grow alone. | 10 |
| But this advice, fair creature, take from me; | |
| Let none take fruit unless he take the tree. | |
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| Believe not oaths nor much protesting men, | |
| Credit no vows, nor no bewailing songs; | |
| Let courtiers swear, forswear, and swear again, | 15 |
| Their hearts do live ten regions from their tongues; | |
| And when with oaths they make the heart to tremble | |
| Believe them least, for then they most dissemble. | |
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| Beware, lest Caesar do corrupt thy mind, | |
| And foul ambition sell thy modesty; | 20 |
| Say tho’ a king thou ever courteous find, | |
| He cannot pardon thy impurity; | |
| Begin with king, to subject you will fall, | |
| From lord to lackey, and at last to all. 2 | |
| | | Note 1. l. 1. Sim. maids [back] | Note 2. ll. 23, 24. Simeon prints an alternative ending—| | Do with but one, with thousands thou’st turned whore: |
| Break you in one place, you will break in more. |
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