Where the Columbines Grow is the state song of Colorado. It was written and composed by A.J. Fynn, and was adopted on May 8, 1915. In recent years, there has been debate over replacing the current song with John Denver's Rocky Mountain High

Lyrics

Where the snowy peaks gleam in the moonlight,

Above the dark forests of pine,

And the wild foaming waters dash onward,

Toward lands where the tropic stars shine;

Where the scream of the bold mountain eagle

Responds to the notes of the dove

Is the purple robed West, the land that is best,

The pioneer land that we love.

Tis the land where the columbines grow,

Overlooking the plains far below,

While the cool summer breeze in the evergreen trees

Softly sings where the columbines grow.

The bison is gone from the upland,

The deer from the canyon has fled,

The home of the wolf is deserted,

The antelope moans for his dead,

The war whoop re-echoes no longer,

The Indian's only a name,

And the nymphs of the grove in their loneliness rove,

But the columbine blooms just the same.

Let the violet brighten the brookside,

In sunlight of earlier spring,

Let the fair clover bedeck the green meadow,

In days when the orioles sing,

Let the golden rod herald the autumn,

But, under the midsummer sky,

In its fair Western home, may the columbine bloom

Till our great mountain rivers run dry.