Judy Collins - Lily Of The Valley Lyrics

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