The trees they grow so high

The trees they grow so high

And the leaves they grow so 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-growing.

Growing, growing,

Whilst my bonny boy is young

He's a-growing.

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 mean-time

He will do for you;

I'll buy him white ribbons,

Tie them round his bonny 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 for my true love,

But they would not let him 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 mourn

His fate until the day I die,

And I'll watch all o'er his child

While he's growing,

Growing, growing,

And I'll watch all o'er his child

While he's growing.