The poem opens with the speaker describing what "false" love looks and sounds like, attributing it to "poor fools" who place too much emphasis on performance over feeling. Kissing, playing, and grave language, according to the speaker, are not qualities of true love.
Continuing the argument of the first quatrain, the speaker announces that lovers who love in the ways described cannot keep their lover or win her back. Additionally, the speaker remarks that while many of love's feelings are communicated through the face, the figurative Love prefers to "conquer" the heart instead.
Next, the speaker criticizes the aspects of performance that she finds most feigned: acts of sighing, crying, and making a show of one's love are not accurate representations of emotions. Rather, true love resides in one's soul. In the last line, the speaker shifts gears to suggest that silent love—described as "kind looks"—is also insufficient in communicating one's true feelings.
