1. The trees they grow high and the leaves they grow so green,
The day is past and gone, my love, that you and I have seen.
It's a cold winter's night, my love, when I must bide alone,
For my bonny lad is young, but he's growing.
2. "Oh, father, dearest father, you've done me much wrong,
You've tied me to a boy when you know he is too young."
"Oh, daughter, dearest daughter, if you'll waite a little while,
A lady you shall be while he's growing."
3. "Oh, father, dear father, I'll tell you what I'll do:
I'll send my love to college for another year or two.
And all around his head I'll bind a ribbon blue
To let the maidens know that he's married."
4. "One day I was looking o'er my father's castle wall,
I spied all the boys a-playin' with the ball.
My own true love was the flower of them all,
He's young but he's daily growing."
5. And early in the morning at the dawning of the day,
They went out into the hayfield to have some sport and play.
And what they did there, she never would declare,
But she never more complained of his growing.
6. At the age of sixteen, he was a married man,
At the age of seventeen, the father of a son,
At the age of eighteen, the grass grew over him,
And that soon put an end to his growing.
