THE VIOLET
Russian folk songs with English translations p 14 #9

Close by the wa-ter, where the banks are low*
Where the ri-ver's banks are low, a ten-der vio-let grew

Lonely it waited, no eye saw it there,
No one, passing, sow how fair it shone amid the dew.

Mine were the eyes that saw its loveliness,
Mine the hand that plucked it, by the water flowing clear.

Softly I held it, shielded from the sun,
From the sun I shielded it, and gave it to my dear.

*every line repeats.