LEMON TREE
(learned in the 1950s from Peter, Paul and Mary)
When I was just a little lad my father said to me,
One day beneath the lemon tree my love and I did lie,
One day she left without a word, she took away the sun,
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)
Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree.
Don't put your faith in love, my boy, my father said to me,
For I fear you'll find that love is blind like the lovely lemon tree.
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
A girl so sweet that when she smilled the sun rose in the sky.
We passed that summer lost in love beneath the lemon tree,
And the music in her laughter hid my father's words from me.
Lemon tree, very pretty...
And in the dark she left behind I saw what she had done.
She left me for another, it's a common tale but true,
A sadder now but wiser man I sing these words to you:
Lemon tree, very pretty...