Love, a child, is ever crying; / Please him, and he straight is flying
These lines introduce the overarching metaphor of the poem, which asserts that the feeling of being in love is like attending to a small child who demands attention. However, the second line incorporates a darker, more pessimistic tone into the metaphor as the speaker acknowledges that the child's favor is easily won but not easily maintained. As such, the speaker suggests that love is an emotion that demands constant attention and energy despite the fact that it will hurt you in the end.
His desires have no measure; Endless folly is his treasure
These lines characterize the child/love as a kind of all-consuming entity or emotion. The repetition of the phrases "no measure" and "endless folly" suggest that the demands of the child/love are perpetual and inescapable. As such, the speaker implies that to be in love is an exhausting feeling that requires a large amount of energy but ultimately cannot be avoided.
Let him gain the hand, he'll leave you / And still glory to deceive you
This description of the child/love introduces an explicit power dynamic between the speaker and the emotion. One can interpret "gain the hand" as both an expression of caring for the child and as the child having achieved something to the speaker's detriment. As such, though the child is at the mercy of the speaker's care, the speaker is similarly at the mercy of the child's (and love's) demands.
He will triumph in your wailing; / And yet cause be of your failing: / These his virtues are, and slighter / Are his gifts, his favours lighter.
One of the main characteristics of this stanza is its use of syntactic inversion, or the mixing of words in a sentence that deviates from the traditional noun + verb model. Between the first and second couplet, the speaker adopts an ironic tone toward her subject (love/the child) by calling his sadistic tendencies his "virtues." The syntactic inversion between the third and fourth lines of the stanza poses a subtle challenge to the reader to tease out the true meaning of the stanza, which sounds as though the speaker is praising the child/love when she is actually continuing to criticize it.
Feathers are as firm in staying; / Wolves no fiercer in their preying
The comparison of the child/love to feathers and wolves again prompts the reader to question the logic of the poem: firm feathers serves as an oxymoron to emphasize the fleeting nature of love, while fierce wolves are less predatory than the child, despite their carnivorous hunting. These two images again recall the paradox of love as that which "preys" or strikes a victim with force but just as quickly disappears and evades one's grasp.
As a child then, leave him crying; / Nor seek him so given to flying
These lines serve as the closing couplet of the poem, and they operate as both a logical conclusion to the speaker's argument against love ("leave him crying") and a return to the opening of the poem. The cyclical nature evoked in the final lines suggests that love itself is a process of coming and going, and that one can become stuck in a vicious cycle of scorn and flattery. Such cyclicality and repetition play a significant role in other parts of Pamphilia to Amphilanthus, particularly in the "Sonnets to Love," when the speaker compares love to the tactful practice of weaving poetic verses together.
