Oh the trees they do grow high and the leaves they do grow green
And many's the cold winter's night my love and I have seen
On a cold winter's night my love you and I alone have been
Oh my bonny boy is young but he's growing
My bonny boy is young but he's growing
Oh father, dear father, you've done to me much harm
For to go and get me married to one who is so young
For he is only sixteen years old and I am twenty-one
Oh my bonny boy is young but he's growing
My bonny boy is young but he's growing
Oh Daughter, dear daughter, I'll tell you what I'll do
I'll send your love to college for another year or two
And all around his college cap I'll tie a ribbon blue
For to let the ladies know that he's married
To let the ladies know that he's married
Now at the age of sixteen he was a married man
And at the age of seventeen the father to a son
And at the age of eighteen the grass grew over him
Cruel death soon put an end to his growing
And now my love is dead and in his grave doth lie
The green grass grows over him so very very high
I'll sit here and mourn his death until the day I die
And I'll watch all o'er his child while he's growing
I'll watch all o'er his child while he's growing