Written for the play "The Captain" by Beaumont and Fletcher, and presented by the King's Men (the early 1600's theater group of which William Shakespeare was a member and for whom he wrote plays), this song for bass and treble voices with lute accompaniment is in three verses in a quasi-recitativo style about the nature of love and the feelings and thought of women. The three verses are constructed similarly both in alternation of meaning and in musical structure. At the beginning of each verse, the Bass voice asks a question and the Treble voice answers; for example, in the first verse - "Tell me, dearest, what is love?" and the response is "'Tis a light'ning from above; 'Tis an arrow, 'tis a fire; 'tis a boy they call desire". The two voices then join in the final line, which begins with a twist because it first sounds like a continuity of the definition of love but then changes into another meaning: '"Tis a grave Gapes to have Those poor fools that long to prove." The next two verses follow the same form.

The second verse asks" Tell me more: are women true?" and the response is somewhat tongue-in-cheek but also sincere "Yes, some are, and some as you. Some are willing, some are strange, Since you men first taught to change" but then the two singers agree that "... till troth be in both, All shall love to love anew."

And the concluding verse asks in slower musical tempo "Tell me more: can women grieve?" The response in halting, rubato tempo is "Yes, and sicken sore, but live and be wise, too, and delay When you men are wise as they." Again a double indication that women can be quiet (delay) when in equal male company, but also that men may not always be "as wise as they". And the concluding mutual affirmation for both singers is "Then I see Faith will be Never till they both believe".

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