Weeping Willow- Mrs. Horton (NC) 1915 Brown A
[From Brown Collection of NC Folklore Vol. 3, 1952. The editors notes follow.
R. Matteson 2017]
267 The Weeping Willow
For the range and affiliations of this song (not to be confounded with Foster's 'Under the Willow,' which was perhaps inspired by it) see BSM 482, and add to the references there given Virginia (FSV 78-9) and the Ozarks (OFS iv 228-30). It is well known in North Carolina, appearing eleven times in our collection. Mrs. Steely found it also in the Ebenezer community in Wake county. The texts differ chiefly by the omission or inclusion or by a rearrangement of stanzas.
'The Weeping Willow.' Reported by Thomas Smith as set down for him by Mrs. Frank Horton of Vilas, Watauga county, in 1915.
I My heart is broken. I'm in sorrow.
Weeping for the one I love ;
For I never more shall see him
Till we meet in heaven above.
Chorus: Then bury me 'neath the willow,
Beneath the weeping willow tree.
And when he knows where I am sleeping.
Then, perhaps, he'll weep for me.
2 Tomorrow was our wedding day;
But God knows where is he.
For he's gone to see another
And has left me alone to weep.
3 He told me that he did not love me;
But how could I believe them true?
Until an angel softly whispered,
'Me will he untrue to you.'
4 Put on my brow a wreath of violets
To prove that I've been true to him.
Tell him that I died to save him.
But his love I could not win.
5 Plant on my grave a snow-white lily,
One that blooms in purest love;
For I never more shall see him
Till we meet in heaven above.