bonnie boy is young

Lyrics

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.