My Bonnie Laddie's Lang A-Growing


The trees are a' ivied, the leaves they are green,
The times are past that hae seen;
It's I maun lie my lane in the cauld winter nichts,
For my bonnie laddie's lang, lang a-growing.

O faither, dear faither, ye hae dune me muckle wrang,
For ye hae wedded me to a lad that's ower young;
He is but twelve and I am thirteen;
And my bonnie laddie's lang, lang a-growing.

O dochter, dear dochter, I hae dune ye nae wrang,
For I has weded you tae a noble lord's son;
He shall be the lord and you will wait on,
And a' the time your lad'll be a-growing.

O faither, dear faither, if ye think that it will fit,
We'll send him tae the scule for a year or twa yet;
And we'll tie a green ribbon aroond his blue bonnet
And that'll be a token that he's married.

A year had gone by when I passed the scule hoose wa'
And I saw the young scholars a playing at the ba',
I spied him in amang them the fairest o' them a'
Ma boony lad wis young and still growin'.

In his twelfth year he was a married man,
And in his thirteenth he had gotten her a son,
And in his fourteenth the grass it grew green,
And that put an end tae his growin'.