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The Ash Grove, for voice & piano (Folk Songs, Vol. 1) Lyrics
Down yonder green valley where streamlets meander,
When twilight is fading, I pensively rove,
Or at the bright noontide in solitude wander
Amid the dark shades of the lonely Ash grove.
'Twas there while the blackbird was joyfully singing,
I first met my dear one, the joy of my heart;
Around us for gladness the bluebells were ringing,
Ah! then little thought I how soon we should part.
Still grows the bright sunshine o'er valley and mountain,
Still warbles the blackbird his note from the tree;
Still trembles the moonbeam on streamlet and fountain,
But what are the beauties of nature to me.
With sorrow, deep sorrow, my bosom is laden,
All day I go mourning in search of my love.
Ye echoes, O tell me, where is the sweet maiden?
She sleeps 'neath the green turf down by the Ash grove.
Ironically, my grade school teacher Miss. Von Low had our class sing The Ash Grove for a winter assembly, and I earned the solo part. She chose this song because our towns namesake Elm trees were succumbing to Dutch Elm Disease during my childhood of the 1970's, and because our indigenous American Ash species would be the tree that filled in the holes the dead Elms left behind in our nearby woods. That is because our local ecosystem is Oak-Elm-Ash. Now years later this song is my main influence helping to develop my passions for becoming Chicagolands premier expert on the Extinction event of our American Ash tree Fraxinus species. Now I am preserving the best of our communities Ash trees that have 300-6OO year lifespans, so many generations have the chance to see the light through its branches breaking, and the host of kind faces gazing on them from their friends of childhood.