Lily of the Valley - Judy Collins

Lily of the valley

Lily of the valley

Lily of the valley

They called her 'Lily of the valley'

And she lived beside the river

The youngest of her sisters

And the prettiest of them all

She was courted by the men in town

She could have married anyone

The one she made her husband

Was the handsomest of all

They were married in a chapel

Lily bore him seven children

And every night he put her down

And made her feel ashamed

He took the face she used to wear

And put a look of sorrow there

The more he made her suffer

The more she felt to blame

No more tears Lily, don’t cry anymore

Tears of yours won’t fall another time

Don’t cry Lily we know how you’ve tried

Fighting for your life was not a crime

One night Lily turned to him

Before he raised his hand to her

One more time she said

And not again

He laughed and threw another punch

The blow knocked Lily to the floor

Somehow she grabbed the kitchen knife

And stabbed her husband dead

The jury they decided

It was murder in the first degree

They said she had provoked him

With her wild and wicked talk

They hanged her by the river

Where so many times she wandered

And left her children motherless

In sorrow and in shock

No more tears Lily, don’t cry anymore

Tears of yours won’t fall another time

Don’t cry Lily we know how you’ve tried

Fighting for your life was not a crime

A soldier in a uniform

Is meant to kill the enemy

But Lilly in her own defense

Was framed to take the fall

Her children watched their father beat

Their mother all too often

The battlefields of families

Are the saddest of them all

The willow weeps for Lily

As its branches touch the water

The wind is crying, «Lily»

As it sighs along the shore

The river’s singing «Lily

We all know that you are innocent»

You were promised marriage

But you had to fight a war

No more tears Lily, don’t cry anymore

Tears of yours won’t fall another time

Don’t cry Lily we know how you’ve tried

Fighting for your life was not a crime

Lily of the valley

Lily of the valley

Lily of the valley