The trees they grow tall, the grass is growing green
Many a cold and winter night that I alone have been
It is a cold and cruel night when I must lie alone
The Bonny Boy is young, but he is growing
Oh father, dear father I think you done me wrong
To go and get me married to one who is so young
For he is only sixteen years and I am twenty one
The bonny boy is young but he's growing
Oh daughter, dear daughter, I did not do you wrong
For I have married you to a rich man's son
And he shall be a match for thee when I am dead and gone
He is young, but he is daily growing
Oh father, dear father, I'll tell you what I'll do
I'll send the boy to college for another year or two
And all around his college cap, I'll bind a ribbon blue
For to let the ladies know that he's married
A year it went by and I passed the college wall
And saw the young collegians a playing at the ball
Amidst them was my own true love, the fairest of them all
He was young but he was daily growing
At the age of sixteen he was a married man
And at the age of seventeen he was the father of a son
At the age of eighteen, his grave had all grown green
And the death put an end to his growing
I'll make my love a shroud of ornamental brown
And whilst I am a making it, the tears they will run down
For once I had my own love, now he's lying low
And I'll nurse his bonny boy while he's growing