As I was walking by yonder church wall
I saw four and twenty young men a-playing at the ball
I asked for my own true love but they wouldn't let him come
For they said the boy was young but a-growing

Father dear father you've done me much wrong
You've tied me to a boy when you know he is too young
But he will make a Lord for you to wait upon
And a lady you will be while he's growing

We'll send him to college for one year or two
And maybe in time the boy will do for you
I'll buy you white ribbons to tie around his waist
For to let the ladies know that he's married

The trees they do grow high and the leaves they do grow green
The day is passed and gone my love that you and I have seen
It's on a cold winter's night that I must lie alone
For the bonny boy is young but a-growing

At the age of sixteen he was a married man
And at the age of seventeen the father to a son
And at the age of eighteen his grave it did grow green
Cruel dead had put an end to his growing