They call me the Wild Rose,
But my name was Elisa Day;
Why they call me that I do not know,
For my name was Elisa Day
From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
She stared at my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild
When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped at the tears that ran down my face
They call me the Wild Rose,
But my name was Elisa Day;
Why they call me that I do not know,
For my name was Elisa Day
On the second day I brought her a flower;
She was more beautiful than any woman I’ve seen
I said, “Do you know where the wild roses grow,
So sweet and scarlet and free?”
On the second day he came with a single red rose
He said: “Give me your loss and your sorrow!”
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
“If I show you the roses will you follow?”
They call me the Wild Rose,
But my name was Elisa Day;
Why they call me that I do not know,
For my name was Elisa Day
On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses, and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word,
As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist
On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
She lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, said: “All beauty must die”,
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth
They call me the Wild Rose,
But my name was Elisa Day;
Why they call me that I do not know,
For my name was Elisa Day