Wildwood Flower

(album: American Folk Songbook - 2011)

I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of raven black hair
The lilies so pale and the roses so fair
And the myrtle so bright with an emerald hue
The pale amaryllis and violets of blue

I will dance, I will sing and my life will be gay
I'll cease this wild weeping, drive sorrow away
Tho' my heart is now breaking, he'll never know
His name made me tremble, my pale cheeks to glow

He told me he loved me and promis'd to love
Through ill and misfortune, all others above
Now another has won him, oh misery to tell
He left me in silence, no word of farewell

He taught me to love him, he call'd me his flower
That blossom'd for him all the brighter each hour
But I woke from my dreaming, my idol was clay
My visions of love have all faded away

I'll think of him never, I'll be wildly gay
I'll charm ev'ry heart and the crowd I will sway
And I'll live yet to see him, regret the dark hour
He won, then neglected, the frail wildwood flower