They call me the wild rose, but my name was a lie as a day Why they call me it I do not know, for my name was a lie as a day From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one She stared in my eyes and smiled For her lips were the color 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 out the tears that ran down my face They call me the wild rose, but my name was a lie as a day Why they call me that I do not know, for my name was a lie as a 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 a lie as a day Why they call me that I do not know, for my name was a lie as a 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 martyred 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 lied as a thief And I kissed her goodbye, said all beauty must die And I leant down and planted a rose between her teeth They call me the wild rose, but my name was a lie as a day Why they call me that I do not know, for my name was a lie as a day My name was a lie as a day For my name was a lie as a day