The Trees They Grow So High

The trees they grow so high and the leaves they do grow green
And many a cold winter's night my love and I have seen
Of a cold winter's night, my love, you and I alone have been
Whilst my bonny boy is young, he's a-gowing
Growing, growing
Whilst my bonny boy is young, he's a-gowing

O father, dearest father, you've done to me great wrong
You've tied me to a boy when you know he is too young
O daughter, dearest daughter, if you wait a little while
A lady you shall be while he's growing
Growing, growing
A lady you shall be while he's growing

I'll send your love to college, all for a year or two
And then in the meantime he will do for you;
I'll buy him white ribbons, tie them round his bonney waist
To let the ladies know that he's married
Married, married
To let the ladies know that he's married

I went up to the college and I looked over the wall
Saw four and twenty gentlemen playing at bat and ball
I called to my true love, but they would not let hime come
All because he was a young boy and growing
Growing, growing
All because he was a young boy and growing

At the age of sixteen, he was a married man
And at the age of seventeen he was a father to a son
And at the age of eighteen the grass grew over him
Cruel death soon put an end to his growing
Growing, growing
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 o'er him so very, very high
I'll sit, and I'll mourn his fate until the day I die
And I'll watch o'er his child while he's growing
Growing, growing
And I'll watch o'er his child while he's growing