The Trees They Do Grow High

 

1. The trees they do grow high,
And the leaves they do grow green;
But the time is past and gone, my love,
That you and I have been.
It’s a cold winter’s night, my love,
And here I must abide alone:
My bonny lad was young, but a-growing.
Growing, growing,
O my bonny lad was young,
But a-growing.

2. “O Father, dearest Father,
I fear you’ve done me wrong,
For you’ve married me to a bonnie boy,
But I fear he is too young.”
“O Daughter, dearest Daughter,
If you’ll stay at home a time with me,
A lady you shall be while he’s growing.”
Growing, growing,
O a lady you shall be,
While he’s a-growing.

3. “We’ll send him to a college
For a year or two,
And then perhaps in time, my love,
Into a man he’ll grow.
I will buy you a ribbon blue
To tie around his bonny waist
To let the ladies know that he’s married.”
Married, married,
O to let the ladies know
That he’s married.

4. At the age of sixteen,
He was a married man,
And at the age of seventeen,
The father of a son,
And at the age of eighteen,
His grave it was a-growing green,
And that did put an end to his growing.
Growing, growing,
O and that did put an end
To his growing.

5. The trees they do grow high,
And the leaves they do grow green;
But the time is past and gone, my love,
That you and I have been.
It’s a cold winter’s night, my love,
And here I must abide alone:
My bonny lad was young, but a-growing.
Growing, growing,
O my bonny lad was young,
But a-growing.