collins, judy
bonnie boy is young
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.