Seeds of Love - Collected by Cecil Sharp in Somerset. Sung by the Clancey Brothers. SheetMusic
I sowed the seeds of love
'Twas early in the springtime
I gathered them up in the morning clear
While small birds did sweetly sing (2x)
My garden was planted round
With flowers of every kind
I fain would the best for to wear in my breast
A flower that would please my mind
The gardener standing by
I ask'd to choose for me
He chose me the violet, the lily and the pink
But these I refused all three
The violet I did not like
Because it fades so soon
The lily and the pink I cared not a flink
And vowed I would stay 'til June
In June grows a red, rosebud
And that was the the flow'r for me
I'd pluck it and think that no lily nor pink
Could compare with the red rosetree
The gardener standing by
He bid me take great care
For under the blossom and under the leaves
Was a throrn that would wound and tear
I told him I'd take no care
Until I felt the smart
I pull'd and I pluck'd at the red rosebud
'Til it pierced me to my heart
Of hyssop I'll take a spray
No other flowers I'll touch
That all in the world may plainly see
That I loved one flow'r too much
My garden is now run wild
For the want of planting it new
For the beds that once were cover'd with sween thyme
Are now overrun with rue
Each flower has a particular meaning: violet=modesty, lily=purity, pink=courtesy, thyme=chastity, rue=repentance, red rose=passion, and hyssop=contrition. From John Runge's Collection, Early English Lute Songs and Folk Songs, Vol. 4.