The trees are growing high my love
And the grass is growing green
And many a cold and winter night
That I alone have been
It is a cruel and bitter night
That I must lie alone
Oh! the Bonny Boy is young
But he is growing

Oh! father, dear father
I think you did me wrong
For to go and get me married
To one that is so young
He is but sixteen years
And I am twenty-one
Oh! the bonny boy is young
And he's growing

Oh! daughter, dear daughter
I did not do you wrong
For to go and get you married
To one that is so young
He will be a match for you
When I am dead and gone
Oh! the bonny boy is young
But he is growing

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 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
I spied him in among them
The fairest of them all
Oh! my bonny boy was young
And still growing

At the age of sixteen years
He was a married man
And at the age of seventeen
The father of a son
But at the age of eighteen
O'er his grave the grass grew green
Cruel death put an end
To his growing

I'll buy my love a shroud
Of the Holland linen brown
And whilst they are making it
The tears they will run down
It's once I had a true love
But now he's lying low
And I'll nurse his bonny boy
While he's growing